‘Clinical’ South Africa keen to carry confidence into England tour

A “clinical” all-round performance all through the women's one-day international series against Bangladesh gave the South African side confidence going into their tour of England, Dane van Niekerk, the captain, has said.

South Africa, who had set themselves the target of a 5-0 win in the ODIs, were pleased to reach their goal with a six-wicket win in the final game on Monday 14 May.

“We started off the series with a whitewash in mind,” said Laura Wolvaardt, the opener, who was Player of the Match in the last game for her unbeaten 70. “Dane made it very clear that we wanted to win the series and win it big to show them what we are capable of.”

“It was clinical throughout the series,” said a delighted van Niekerk. “The most exciting thing for me was that different people put up their hand.”

South Africa had four different people winning Player of the Match in five games, even as they enjoyed contributions from several others in every match. While they dismissed the opposition four times and had them nine down in the final game, the batters also showed application.

“I enjoyed watching the batters go about their work against spin. A lot more positive,” said van Niekerk. “Yes, there are things we can work on, but we can work on pace as well. [Laura] has come into her own against spin, so that’s also good to see."

“They’re coming into situations where they’re starting to understand their games themselves and work at it," added Salieg Nackerdien, the stand-in coach. "Hopefully in the future they’ll take the responsibility further and get those hundreds under the belt and big scores on a regular basis."

South Africa travel to England for their three ICC Women’s Championship ODIs starting 9 June.

“We need to go into the series with high confidence and this gives us that. At the end of the day, a cover drive stays a cover drive, a good ball stays a good ball. If we do that more often against England, we can do really well and be successful there,” said van Niekerk. “Hopefully this is just the beginning.”

Before that, though, are three T20Is against the visiting Bangladesh side, which will be vital preparation going into the ICC World T20 2018 later this year.

“We look to stay in a positive mode,” said Nackerdien. “We know they’ll come with good intent. But I’m sure we can match them. We have the firepower and the players who can take us over the line.”