The Proteas women will focus on tightening up their fielding and bowling, according to captain Laura Wolvaardt, as they embark on a five-match T20 International series against New Zealand which gets underway in Mount Maunganui on Sunday (3.45am start).
The national women’s side will play a curtain raiser to the men’s game between SA and New Zealand to be played later on Sunday, as will be the case throughout the series.
Wolvaardt said they had settled in well after arriving in New Zealand earlier this week.
“We’ve trained three times and it’s been really good so far. We’ve gotten over the jetlag the last few days and we had some great weather today. It’s a beautiful place to play cricket,” the skipper said.
“We’re very excited. It looks like a beautiful venue and the nets have been really good as well, so we’re excited to get going.”
Fielding and bowling
Forming a key part of their preparations for the Women’s T20 World Cup to be held in England and Wales in June, Wolvaardt said the Proteas would utilise the series against the White Ferns to work on some areas of their game.
“I think we’ve been batting pretty well, but obviously fielding is a big one we’d like to be a lot better in. We’ve had some hard sessions the last few days and hopefully that will iron out a few of the issues,” Wolvaardt said.
“And then I think we need just a bit of consistency with the ball. We bowl well but then just have those one or two loose deliveries in each over, so we just need to hit our straps for longer to really nail on the basics with that.”
Longer series
Given a rare opportunity to play a five-match series (they usually play three games in bilateral campaigns), Wolvaardt said it was a great chance to experiment a bit, with their sights set on lifting the trophy for the first time at the T20 World Cup.
“I think it’s great. While we’re here we might as well play an extra couple of games, especially with the World Cup right around the corner,” the skipper said.
“I think the main focus is playing as much T20 cricket as we can, and five games gives you the chance to try a few things and a few combinations. You have enough games to tweak a few things here and there, so I think it’s a great initiative and hopefully we can win the series.”
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