10 February - Cape Town - South Africa player Sinalo Jafta post-match press conference

Hi, everyone. I hope you guys are good. I would say I think nerves just got in the way. and just taking it forth, I'm happy with the way I came back. And obviously, just in the back end, there's still a lot of work to be done there.

[Reporter]

And just a follow-up on that, do you speak for the whole team, the occasion, the pressure you've been spoken about all week? Do you think that played a role in this?

[Sinalo]

I can't speak for the others. But one thing I will say is I will commend Cape Town for actually coming through. The fans were really incredible. And just from my side, when we speak about nerves, I mean, as an athlete, we live for those moments. And I think, yeah, it's a lesson that we go for here.

[Reporter]

It was sold out - even school kids came from school. What do you take from today’s attendance just in general?

[Sinalo]

For me it's a big positive for actually women in sports. I know like when Rita actually messaged me this morning like it's a sold-out crowd, I actually got goosebumps. We haven't actually played in such a crowd bar India - so I think for us our families were here, our friends were here and also like just seeing younger kids actually being here for me that's everything yeah.

[Reporter]

Where do you feel you guys lost the game?

[Sinalo]

Tough question like if we really break down the game I will say we weren't as disciplined in our lines in the bowling like in the back end and also like we saw like good skills from Tazmin and Nadine De Klerk with the catches like I mean the one thing is going back on the drawing board and just working on those small touches and obviously bouncing back for the next game.

[Reporter]

It was very emotional seeing [inaudible] at the ground, and Marizanne seeing each other, do you think that contributed to the nerves? The emotion?

[Sinalo]

Honestly I don't see anything but I will answer the question. You know as athletes like we are here to do our job that's for and foremost and Marizanne Kapp is probably the most professional person I've ever come across so she knows that she's got a job at hand whether Dane is here or not and we're all a team and everyone supports each other at the end of the day.

[Reporter]

Through that chase even before the run rate was getting up and you got to those last few overs just by some of the running between the wickets it did look that there was a growing sense of panic is that what you were feeling out there and what you were feeling in the dugout there was a panic?

[Sinalo]

If I speak for myself I got run out so I will say the pressure moment did get to me and I mean being the person that I am I do take - not credit but I do take fault in that and say for the next one just stay in your crease but also it's a quick signal at the end of the day it's a give or take and especially in those moments you never know and you know when you speak about the pressure like I did feel it in the dugout but I think you guys saw with Marizanne on my side speaking off the cons, thank god I understand, she was like yeah - yeah didi so I was like thanks but you know just having a senior person next to you coming in and just go out there and show intent she was really probably the like the reason why I was so fired up going in there like yeah just get that yeah!

[Reporter]

So is there a challenge then generally for the team going forward in the tournament to be able to keep whatever all these emotions are in check and how do you do that?

[Sinalo]

I mean that's a very good question because we can't run away from the fact that it is going to be pressure situations. It is a World Cup and I mean with T20 cricket the margin of error is so slim and as what we're focusing on most is just being present. I think that's what we lacked we were focused on more of the outcome instead of actually facing that ball as it is just being present in the moment I think that's what I would say was lacking.

That's always a good score to chase especially here in Newlands but I just think from our end and our batters I think we lost wickets in clusters and I mean that's been going on for a while and I think just going back to the drawing board and say how do we actually get this right and I mean us as a team we're very hard on ourselves and I know we will figure it out and when we do it's just going to be going forward from there.

[Reporter]

Being the keeper, can you just describe the way you played in the first innings and then when you were out batting – [inaudible]

[Sinalo]

I actually enjoyed batting on that wicket, there wasn't much special to it. I think what coach told me is just go out there and show intent and I think once you go and show intent it actually gets easier and the one thing I was saying I was telling my mind and Sune even said just be brave because you never know what's going to happen and I mean with the wicket we all know the slower you bowl, the better it is as a bowler and obviously with them dotting it in it was easier to just go but I think for us it's literally just small touches that we need to fix.

[Reporter]

Do you think that was lacking, at the start - the lack of intent.

[Sinalo]

We can be critical but we're going at sixes at a time and it's just as I said mentioned earlier it's just losing wickets in crucial stages that does slow down the run rate. I think for four overs we were sitting on four runs an over and I think that played a big part in the game.

[Reporter]

Next up is New Zealand, a team that is ranked much higher than Sri Lanka. What do you make of the side that they do have players with the likes of Sophie Devine, Susie Bates and Lea, apologies if I'm pronouncing it wrong? Can you repeat the question please? Just what do you make of New Zealand?

[Sinalo]

We all know that they've got powerhouses in their team but I think for us as a team what we should focus on is what we can do as a team not really worrying about the opposition and I think coming and looking in from this game is just fixing our lines sometimes when we're bowling we're wrong, it's just bringing it a bit tighter and I mean with the pace of Shabs, with Kapp in the back end that was incredible. It's also nice as a keeper but also tough but I mean us it's just discipline. I think that's all it is and from batting it's the same thing, discipline and also just adjusting to the situations at hand. Yes we lost wickets but we had batters in the team that can still do their job.

[Sinalo]

I think anything like winning the toss for us. We always will back our bowlers because we know that there was something in the wicket up front. And you could see in the first six overs in the first 10 actually we had them for 45 - they were going at five - at fours and, you know, Sune won the toss and she made the right decision, as I said, it's all about execution from our end. So yeah, thanks for your question.

[Reporter]

[Afrikaans]

[Sinalo]

Okay. Well, it's probably the greatest thing. [Afrikaans]

So, I think, for the first time, so for me that's the positive.

[Reporter]

Just one from me, even in the death overs I think the intent that was a whoever was coming was to hit - whatever the, I understand the run rate was there but from especially from your side. You got some understanding of how your innings was supposed to pace from ball one. So do you think that having chats in the dressing room and even in the field with the partner at the non striker end helped. Was it something that you yourself planned before going out.

[Sinalo]

Yeah as I mentioned before, I had Marizanne on my right, and the one thing I've been working hard on in the last couple of months is just showing intent with the batting, whether I get six balls or three overs, I never know especially batting at number eight - I want to make that a position for me of going at a good strike rate, if that makes sense that, you know, there's always back end you always have to show intent, you never know what's going to happen and, you know, coming in and actually seeing Shabs, seeing Aya, to actually go there and show intent for me that's a positive. And you know, there are plans around it and we just want to focus on literally reviewing this game and taking it to the next one.

[Reporter]

The last one from me, the last two times the home sides, won the World Cup, especially the ICC big tournament that is T20 World Cup in 2020 and ODI World Cup in 2017 they both lost the first matches. Do you think that it's something, inspiration or something positive you can take out of there that there is a hope for your team?

[Sinalo]

There's this term that they use like just get the roughness off whatever. But, I think, you know, we literally tend to do this every single time especially in series we always lose the first one and we just bounce back. And I think it's, critical to say that this wasn't our best showcasing especially coming in from a Tri series where we thought that we had momentum but I mean, sometimes life does humble you and you just have to go back to the drawing board and see how you can improve and seeing where we can actually get better as a team because we also can't be complacent. Say now we want the fixture they will be speaking a different thing we want to grow each and every single game.