South Africa’s women’s T20 team will take the field at Newlands against England in their World Cup semifinal on Friday at 3pm with nothing to lose according to captain Sune Luus.
The reason for their fear of failure is that everyone probably already expects the Proteas to go down to an unbeaten England side who had their number in no fewer than three previous final-four matches.
The last of those defeats was in last year’s 50-over World Cup, with South Africa also losing to the Three Lions in 2017, while their only semifinal meeting T20 cricket was in 2014 - a match England won by nine wickets.
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Let's fill up Newlands and #TurnItUp as we take on England in the #T20WorldCup semi-final💪#SAvENG #MyHero #AlwaysRising pic.twitter.com/upLC5bgWRe
With four wins in their pool to make it through to the semis, captain Heather Knight and her teammates are heavy favourites heading into the clash.
Asked how they will counter this, Lulus, 27, says: “Obviously it’s going to be a big occasion, we’ve been on the other side of it too many times to know exactly what it feels like.
“We don’t want to be there again and that’s enough motivation for us to go out and enjoy the game. We have nothing to lose so I think we’re just going to try and play our best cricket and enjoy the moment as well.”
The #T20WorldCup semifinal awaits 🇿![CDATA[]]>🇦#SAvENG #MyHero #AlwaysRising pic.twitter.com/bXFHgtWRRf
Lulus, though, reckons the Newlands crowd could be a great equaliser in the match and adds when asked if home advantage make them favourites: “In terms of South Africa, we are favourites. But in terms of the world, England are still favourites simply because of the way they play at the moment and how they went through the group stages.
“But I do think the fact that we are playing at home at Newlands will definitely help to lift our morale.
“Everyone’s just excited to get going.”
The winner of Friday’s clash will face the winner of Thursday’s semi between Australia and India.
dudley.carstens@inl.co.za