{"id":75164,"date":"2024-10-16T17:31:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-16T17:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/only-the-best-will-do-against-winning-machine-aussie-in-world-cup-semi"},"modified":"2024-10-16T17:31:00","modified_gmt":"2024-10-16T17:31:00","slug":"only-the-best-will-do-against-winning-machine-aussie-in-world-cup-semi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/only-the-best-will-do-against-winning-machine-aussie-in-world-cup-semi","title":{"rendered":"Only the best will do against winning machine Aussie in World Cup semi"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>Think trying to defeat Pep Guardiola\u2019s Manchester City or Pitso Mosimane\u2019s Mamelodi Sundowns for an idea of the monumental task that awaits the Proteas in the T20 World Cup semifinal against Australia on Thursday.<\/p>\n

In cricket right now \u2014 regardless of gender \u2014 there is no bigger challenge than trying to beat the Australian women\u2019s team.<\/p>\n

Their dominance isn\u2019t a recent occurrence. Of the eight previous Women\u2019s T20 World Cups, Australia have won six. Their overall winning percentage in T20 World Cup matches is 81.25%. Even Guardiola and Mosimane would be impressed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s easy to get swept away by what Australia has achieved,\u201d South African captain Laura Wolvaardt said on the eve of the playoff match at Dubai International Cricket Stadium.<\/p>\n

Besides that record, the Australians have dominated encounters with South Africa, winning nine out of their 10 matches. The Proteas have also only once made more than 150 against them \u2014 and lost.<\/p>\n

But Wolvaardt, correctly, isn’t focused on that. Instead she is pointing to that one win, in Canberra this year, as a vital marker for her team. \u201cThe last time we faced them in a World Cup we\u2019d never beaten them in our history, which is not a nice thing coming into a knockout game.\u201d<\/p>\n

That previous World Cup encounter was the final of last year\u2019s tournament in a sold-out Newlands. Despite her team\u2019s form being patchy since then it is the victory in the Australia capital, in which they successfully chased 144, with Wolvaardt making an unbeaten 58, to which she wants the players to cling.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we play a good game of cricket we have the talent to beat them. We showed that in the one T20 in which we did so. T20 cricket can be crazy, and if we keep it simple, focus on ourselves, we can do anything on the day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wolvaardt and fellow opener Tazmin Brits will be crucial in that quest. Both are among the leading five run-scorers at this year\u2019s tournament \u2014 with Brits top of the pile \u2014 and against an Australian batting line-up with so much depth both have to maintain the consistency they\u2019ve maintained hitherto in the competition.<\/p>\n

Australia have lost fast bowler Tayla Vlaeminck for the rest of the tournament and there are doubts about the readiness of skipper Alyssa Healy who hurt her foot against Pakistan. She attended the last group match with India, wearing a \u2018moon boot\u2019 and walked with crutches.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless as they showed against India, Australia\u2019s depth is the envy of the rest of the world, and they were still able to keep Harmanpreet Kaur\u2019s side at arm’s length in claiming a nine-run win.<\/p>\n

In Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Ashleigh Gardner and Megan Schutt they have three veteran players who have been part of numerous successes, while all-rounder Phoebe Litchfield is among a talented young core that plays without fear.<\/p>\n

South Africa are certainly underdogs and the value of staying tight as a unit has been emphasised in team meetings since their semifinal spot was secured. Wolvaardt pointed to the motivational techniques used by Paul Adams, the spin bowling coach, as relieving some of the stress she\u2019s endured throughout the tournament.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the hardest parts of the job is finding something new to say every single game, and luckily he\u2019s come up with something really creative and really new.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt every meeting he\u2019s got videos about birds that fly together and teamwork and sticking together, today we had a video about ebbs and flows. He\u2019s very creative, he\u2019s been really great for the group. We\u2019ve needed someone to pump us up and bring a fun element, which has been huge as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About South-Africa<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. Think trying to defeat Pep Guardiola\u2019s Manchester City or Pitso Mosimane\u2019s Mamelodi Sundowns for an idea of the monumental task that awaits the Proteas in the T20 World Cup semifinal against Australia on Thursday. In cricket right now \u2014 regardless of gender \u2014 there is no bigger challenge than trying to beat […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":75163,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[274,315,275],"class_list":["post-75164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-south-africa","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"\nOnly the best will do against winning machine Aussie in World Cup semi - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/only-the-best-will-do-against-winning-machine-aussie-in-world-cup-semi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Only the best will do against winning machine Aussie in World Cup semi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Africa-Press – South-Africa. Think trying to defeat Pep Guardiola\u2019s Manchester City or Pitso Mosimane\u2019s Mamelodi Sundowns for an idea of the monumental task that awaits the Proteas in the T20 World Cup semifinal against Australia on Thursday. 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