'Everyone was hungry for this series win' – Sune Luus

The result gave South Africa an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series. The hosts, who exited the ICC Women's World Twenty20 2018 after the group stage, will be delighted to get back on track with a series under their belt.

It was a narrow victory for South Africa, who lost frequent wickets in the chase but held their nerve in the final overs to get past the finish line.

“Coming off maybe not a great year, everyone was pretty hungry for this series win,” said Luus, who returned 5/14 with her leg-spin. “I think in the past, we wouldn’t have gone over the line (in that match situation), this is one of those wins that we’re gonna keep close to our hearts.

"It bodes well for the last match, the confidence from the way we managed to get that win is something that will drive us to finish the series well. We speak a lot about our brand of cricket and how we want to play and with these fresh youngsters, we can play fresh cricket and play according to that.

"Although we had a collapse in the middle, I think that the bravery that they showed is a part of that brand. Nadine [de Klerk] played fearlessly at the end and that’s something that we’ve been working towards and it’s a process for us, but I think we’re on the right track.”

Luus, who was not a part of the T20I squad originally, came into the fray after Chloe Tryon was ruled out due to injury. The all-rounder credited the skipper Dane van Niekerk and assistant coach Salieg Nackerdien for instilling in her confidence. Luus said of Niekerk: “She just came out and said, ‘Listen, you’re gonna bowl now, just bowl like we know you can and just enjoy it.’

“I think for me, it was about getting confidence in the middle and with every ball, that grew, so I was happy with that. I’d had a chat with one of the coaches, Salieg beforehand and I asked him, ‘How do I go about today? Because I know there’s a lot of pressure and you feel like everyone’s eyes are on you’ and I didn’t want to add pressure to myself.

"He was just like, ‘Well, you’ve been dropped already so you can’t go any worse. You just go out there and you just enjoy it and play the way Suné plays.’ And for me with my bowling, that was Suné and I think you can expect more of that from a bowling point of view. It wasn’t my day with the bat, but hopefully, I get a second opportunity in the third T20 just to bring those two performances together."