Proteas captain Laura Wolvaardt has won the toss and elected to bowl in the second ICC T20 Women’s World Cup semi-final against England at The Oval on Thursday.
The Proteas also made one change from their last match with former captain Sune Luus recalled to the playing XI at the expense of another former skipper Dane van Niekerk.
Luus played the first two matches of the T20 World Cup as an opener, but was then dropped for Tazmin Brits, who has been in outstanding form since at the top of the order.
The 30-year-old is expected to slot into Van Niekerk’s middle-order role. Van Niekerk played in three matches, but failed in her only turn at bat against Bangladesh at Lord’s on Sunday.
“We’ve got one change, Sune Luus’ coming in for Dane,” Wolvaardt said. “Just a tactical decision. We just think it would be the best match-up today.”
Wolvaardt also explained her decision to chase in the high-pressure semi-final.
“I think it’s quite a hard ground to defend later on, so yeah, hopefully we can chase later,” she said.
“Still room for improvement. But I think that’s the exciting thing, is that we found ourselves in the semis without having that perfect game yet, so today’s a great time to do that.”
She also reflected on the Proteas beating England in the ODI World Cup semi-final last year in India, but admitted it would be a different prospect at The Oval.
“Yeah, I think we can draw back on those memories, but they’re a quality side in their home turf, so I think they’ll take some beating,” Wolvaardt added.
Teams for The Oval
England: Amy Jones (wk), Danni Wyatt-Hodge, Nat Sciver-Brunt(c), Alice Capsey, Heather Knight, Freya Kemp, Danielle Gibson, Charlotte Dean, Sophie Ecclestone, Linsey Smith, Lauren Bell.
Proteas: Laura Wolvaardt(c), Tazmin Brits, Annerie Dercksen, Sune Luus, Marizanne Kapp, Nadine de Klerk, Chloe Tryon, Sinalo Jafta (wk), Shabnim Ismail, Ayabonga Khaka, Nonkululeko Mlaba
