Shandre Fritz confident ahead of ICC Women's World Cup Qualifier

While the ICC Cricket World Cup dreams of one South Africa team ended earlier in the year in Dhaka, when Graeme Smith's side crashed out to New Zealand in the quarter-finals, the South Africa women's team is hopeful of defending its ICC Women's World Cup Qualifier (WWCQ) title in Bangladesh and using the event as a stepping stone to targeting the overall crown in 2013.

On the back of some strong performances against England last month in the build up to the qualifying event, even if South Africa didn't manage to register a single win over the reigning ICC Women's World Cup winners, all-rounder Shandre Fritz believes the side's efforts have given it the confidence to believe they can challenge the world's top sides.

"We want to go and win this tournament. We are the number five side in the world at the moment and I am not saying it is going to be easy, but we want to win it," revealed 26-year-old Fritz.

"The plan and focus is to win. That is why the series against England was so important for us, just to see where we are at. We think we can go and play against the top four and beat a couple of them.

"We realize we are not there yet, but we don't need to be yet, as the World Cup doesn't happen for over a year. We are happy with where we are now and know what we need to do to beat the top sides."

Fritz, a qualified teacher, who was nominated for the LG ICC Awards 2011 for the T20I Performance of the Year, following a stunning century against the Netherlands last year, is currently focusing full-time on her cricket.

And she believes that this new level of dedication from the side's players, alongside greater support from Cricket South Africa, which has seen the team getting tips from the men's side on how to handle conditions in Bangladesh, is being rewarded by stronger team performances.

"We are playing much better than we have done previously which is testament to the work of the new coach and our new way of doing things," said Fritz.

"We have improved fitness levels and it helps having testing programmes in place and sticking to policies that if players don't pass their fitness test then they don't make the side.

"We have so many more camps and we have a high performance programme, with a super four competition and some of the top players train together."

Fritz has good reason for making the most of her opportunities, having broken her neck in a swimming accident back in 2006, which she believes has given her a new perspective on life.

"It happened quite a long time ago, but when you have something life threatening happen to you it changes the way you think about things and how you do things.

"I am a lot more focused when it comes to the cricket than I was and I train a bit harder. I appreciate everybody around more, particularly my family and friends, and I tell them that I care about them and love them a lot more than I would have done before," said Fritz.

"Obviously it happened and I can't change anything now ? I just try and live a better life, treat people better and be more positive and optimistic."

South Africa squad:

Mignon du Preez (captain, Cri-zelda Brits, Trisha Chetty, Dinesha Devarain, Shandre Fritz, Shabnim Ismail, Marizanne Kapp, Masabata Klaas, Sunette Loubser, Kirstie Thomson, Chloe Tryon, Yolandi van der Westhuizen, Dane van Niekerk, Moseline Daniels.

Notes:

The ICC WWCQ 2011 will be played at four venues in Dhaka, namely Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Khanshaheb Osman Ali Stadium, BKSP 2* and BKSP 3.

The teams have been split into two groups and the full schedule can be on the ICC website here.

The two groups are as follows:

Group A

South Africa, Sri Lanka, Netherlands, Zimbabwe, USA.

Group B

West Indies, Pakistan, Ireland, Japan, Bangladesh.

All games start at 0900 local time.

*BKSP is the Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protishtan (Bangladesh Institute of Sports).

If you are interested in receiving information on the ICC Women's World Cup Qualifier 2011 or wish to attend the event as an accredited member of the media, please contact Lucy Benjamin at lucy.benjamin@icc-cricket.com.

For more information on ICC WWCQ 2011 please visit www.icc-cricket.com.