The Proteas and England women’s cricket teams are close acquaintances. They have met routinely in major ICC tournaments, particularly at the semifinal stage.
England hold the upper hand in 50-overs World Cups, having shattered the Proteas’ dreams in both Bristol (2017) and Christchurch (2022), but Sune Luus’ side famously managed to get their own back on a glorious Cape Town sunlit day in the T20 World Cup semifinal at Newlands two years ago.
The familiar foes will climb into the ring again on Wednesday in Guwahati where they will slug it out for a place in the coveted World Cup final. Proteas opener Tazmin Brits believes history plays no part in the present though.
“Funny enough, we keep meeting England in the semi-finals whether it’s the ODI or the T20. So yeah, we’re pretty used to seeing them in the semi-finals,” Brits said on the SuperSport ICC Women’s World Cup Virtual Round Table yesterday.
“But I wasn’t part of 2017 and 2022. So, I’ll tell you exactly what I said when we played them in South Africa in the semifinals, when they interviewed me and asked the same question.
“I wasn’t part of that. So, like, it’s not in my mindset. Yes, I was part of the 69 game where they bowled us out for that. But we’ve learned our lessons. The girls actually said it’s a rematch of that so we definitely want to take them down.”
With the teams knowing all there is to know about each other after the previous encounters, the Proteas will not be caught off guard again by the spin of Linsey Smith. Equally, England are sweating on the fitness of their World No 1 left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone, who only bowled four deliveries in the last league encounter against New Zealand’s White Ferns after injuring her shoulder.
Part of nullifying Smith’s threat with the new ball in the opening Powerplay lies with the experienced opening pair of Brits and captain Laura Wolvaardt.
Despite coming into this World Cup as the world’s most prolific ODI opening partnership since 2023, the pair have managed just one significant stand – an unbroken 125 against Pakistan – in the eight round-robin matches.
Brits, in particular, has not been able to find the consistency that saw her arriving at the World Cup on the back of three successive ODI centuries. In between adding a fourth ton against New Zealand and unbeaten half-century in the Pakistan clash, Brits has struck out for three three ducks, five and six in seven innings.
She feels though the hard work being done behind the scenes with batting coach Baakier Abrahams will reap fruition in the cauldron of the playoffs.
“I try and stay as positive as possible. We, of course, are working on things. Cricket is a funny game. There’s a lot of ups and downs.
“I’m trying to not be too hard on myself and maybe not put myself in that hole and still realise that my capability, there’s a reason why I scored all those 100 and there’s a reason why I broke those records. It’s not that I’m short of being a good cricketer. It’s maybe just I need to maybe assess a bit better.
“Bakes (Abrahams) and I do talk about that quite often, maybe just assessing the conditions a bit better and showing more intent and backing myself. Because a lot of times you can get into your head, which I probably were, like I was in my head a bit with the last few games.
“But I’m hoping that with tonight’s training and the day after that, that I can get into a better space. I’m trying to be a bit easier on myself and hold space for that because I mean cricket is a funny game.”
Brits will be hoping that it is her and the rest of the Proteas that will be smiling after what is expected to be yet another tense semifinal encounter.
