Christchurch, March 26: South Africa vice-captain Chloe Tryon said that her team will be eager to still “put the foot on the accelerator” when they take on India in their final league phase match of the 2022 ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup on Sunday. The crucial contest will be a day/night match at the Hagley Oval and will get underway from 6.30 AM IST.
Following a rain-abandoned clash against West Indies in Wellington on March 24 which resulted in a point for both sides, the Proteas sealed second place and a semi-final spot behind the only unbeaten team Australia. Ahead of the match against India, in which their opponents will need a win to move into the top four, Tryon believes South Africa will not be taking their foot off the gas despite the comforts of securing qualification with a game to spare.
“It’s very vital (qualifying early),” the all-rounder began. “You obviously don’t want to leave it up to the last group game, so I’m thankful that despite the weather, we still got the point. “It makes it a little bit easier going into the India game, so we can be a little bit focused on specific skills and making sure we’re ticking off a couple of boxes that we haven’t tweaked together really well.
“It’s going to be really important that going into the India game, we still put the foot on the accelerator and make sure we get momentum going into the semi-final and I think we’re on track to do that,” she added. Before the World Cup, the Proteas enjoyed a stunning record of five consecutive ODI series wins to help them rise to second in the ICC rankings. That run included a historic 4-1 series success away to the subcontinent side, where Lizelle Lee and Shabnim Ismail shone with bat and ball, respectively.
On the triumph in Lucknow in early 2021, Tryon commented: “Winning a series in India is not easy, it’s really tough. The way the team approached it was really good. “I was unfortunate not be there, but I watched the games and to see the grind and the graft the girls had, batting hard in tough conditions. It was always important to win a series like that and be able to face a world class team like India, so we were happy with that performance and there’s obviously stuff we want to work on as a team but to win like that, in a place like India, it is always good.
“We know they are a competitive team, so we’ve to be on top of our game to win this game and take momentum into the semi-finals.” If South Africa defeat India, they will most likely set up a semi-final bout with the defending champions, England, who will also be wrapping up their round-robin phase against debutants Bangladesh on Sunday, while also confirming West Indies as one of the last four teams. If India overcome the Proteas, it will be dependent on the net run rate to see who South Africa will face between India and England (if they beat Bangladesh) in the semi-final, with first place on the log facing fourth while second and third go head-to-head in next week’s knockout round. UNI
