Proteas women’s coach Mandla Mashimbyi remains confident that his team will be ready to deal with whatever is thrown at them in the ODI World Cup in India later this year, despite losing two consecutive matches in the ongoing tri-series.
The Proteas women’s team will be looking to redeem themselves on Wednesday in Colombo as they are set to face India Women at the R. Premadasa Stadium. On Friday, the side will be back in action to take on the hosts, Sri Lanka women, to conclude the round robin fixtures of the series.
Should South Africa win both matches, they will stand a chance to play in the final of the series, which is set to get underway on Sunday.
This means the next two games are knockout games for South Africa.
Mashimbyi is keen to see how his team will respond to the pressure, as it will give him a good idea of their readiness for the pressure that they will potentially face in the World Cup later this year.
“I would rather it happen now than in the World Cup, and I can assure you now, when the World Cup comes, we’ll be able to handle whatever pressure is given to us, because this is a learning curve for us in these conditions,” Mahsimbyi said on Tuesday.
“For us now, what we need to do after this tri-series we need to go back to the drawing board and make sure that we fill up all the gaps that we’ve identified during this series.
“I think that’s what’s important for us now. As the new coach of this team, there are a lot of things that I needed to observe and see where the team is at under pressure.”
Wednesday’s fixture against India Women is scheduled to start at 6.30am.
