Tryon targets first T20I half-century in 50th appearance

Both the Windies and South Africa have won their opening games, have two points apiece, and next face off in a bid to remain in the top two of the Group A points table.

For Tryon, along with being part of a big game, there’s the added motivation of playing her 50th Twenty20 International.

“I’m excited to get my 50th (cap) tomorrow. It’s been a dream come true, from a really young age I’ve wanted to play for my country so to be able to get my 50th and at a World Cup is really good. I’m really excited for the challenge tomorrow, we’re playing the hosts so it’s going to be a good, exciting match,” she said on the eve of the contest.

And then she laid out her plans: “I’d like to make my first 50 and go beyond that. I haven’t made one in T20 international cricket yet [she has eight in one-day internationals], so it’s something I do want to tick off the list.

“I hope that when I do get the opportunity in the middle that I’m able to take the team over the line, but with the quality batters that we have, I almost also don’t want it to get to a point where I’m needed, we’ve got such great firepower up front.”

Tryon, the South Africa vice-captain, is a key cog in the team’s wheel, and one of the reasons for hope for a team that has shown frailties with the bat in recent times – she has got starts without building on them often in the past couple of months.

“I do want to be a match-winner, though. It’s been frustrating because it’s always felt like when I get to my 20s and 30s I just lose my wicket so I’ve been working hard on working myself in and getting the team over the line. I want to play smarter and take more responsibility in the middle,” she said.

South Africa stuttered and stumbled in their warm-up games against Pakistan and Australia, but got off to a good start in the main tournament against Sri Lanka, the bowlers setting up a 100-run chase and the batters doing the job in 18.3 overs.

“It was nice that we could build a good partnership with the bat [Marizanne Kapp and Dane van Niekerk, for the third wicket], especially with the bowlers being so outstanding at the moment. So far, everyone is in a really good space and we know that we have to play our best cricket tomorrow against the West Indies,” Tryon said, revisiting the game.

“It’s so good to watch Shabs (Shabnim Ismail) and Kappie bowling up front. They are the best pace-bowling pair in the world and they showed us why yesterday. They were also having a really good time of it and it showed and that’s what you want to see from your seniors.

“It was really exciting to see the captain and Marizanne go out there and play sensible cricket with the bat. They rotated the strike well and played the conditions really well. There are a lot of positives that we can take away from that game and put that all together for tomorrow.”