‘We made it lot harder for ourselves than we would have liked,’ says De Klerk

Take it deep.

An oft-used phrase that sounds cool but is also one of those annoying cricket things that, when it doesn’t work, can make players and teams look foolish.

But when it does…

That phrase kept cropping up after Nadine de Klerk blasted four sixes in the 47th and 49th overs to earn the Proteas a three-wicket victory in a thrilling World Cup clash against India in Visakhapatnam.

“When I and Chloe [Tryon] were batting together, we just said we wanted to take it deep, and we felt if the two of us were still batting in the back end, we backed ourselves to get 10 runs an over in the last four or five overs,” De Klerk said.

De Klerk, an increasingly vital cog in the South African side, smashed 55 runs off the last 20 balls she faced, finishing the match with her fifth six.

The rowdy celebrations at the end were the result of calm and calculated planning.

The Proteas had taken note of how much easier batting looked in the last 10 overs of India’s innings, when the home team, thanks to Richa Ghosh, smashed 98 runs, reaching 251.

Though they should never have scored that many after being 102/6, the talk in the South African dressing room at the break between innings was that it was a par total. They just needed a partnership.

The trouble is that partnership didn’t happen until Laura Wolvaardt and Chloe Tryon put on 61 for the sixth wicket.

“I think we made it a bit harder for ourselves than we would have liked,” De Klerk chirped.

“We knew with the dew and under lights it might become a bit better to bat, but they bowled brilliantly, and we lost two wickets early.”

“Laura and Chloe did well in the middle just to stick it through a little in that tough period. It got much better later on with the seamers. So, we were pretty confident in chasing 250.”

In both innings, the spinners were difficult to get away. Nonkululeko Mlaba and Tryon picked up five wickets between them, while India’s three spinners all bowled their full quota of overs, sharing four wickets.

But in taking the game deep, the Proteas knew, from their own experience earlier – where De Klerk was also punished – that controlling the wet ball would become difficult.

So even as India bowled one of their spin aces, Deepti Sharma, late in the South African innings, she struggled to grip the ball, serving up wides and full tosses, which helped the Proteas’ cause.

It meant that even as South Africa slumped to 81/5 in the 20th over, with Wolvaardt still at the crease, they knew that the longer they dragged out the innings, the harder it would get for the Indian bowlers.

“We knew we were ahead of them runs-wise. We wanted to take the game deep and needed something special. We got that,” said Wolvaardt, who made a gritty 70.

Tryon and De Klerk added 69, gradually increasing the scoring rate and finding the boundaries with greater regularity until Tryon was compromised by cramping.

She was understandably furious after she was dismissed lbw for 49, leaving De Klerk to manage the last stages of the chase with South Africa still needing 41.

But it was where De Klerk came into her own. “We’ve seen it in this World Cup; you just have to stick it out.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re batting number eight or number nine; if you give yourself a chance.

“Richa did it today for India as well. Just try to bat time. When it comes to the back 10, you can really start backing yourself and try to take the game on. If it does come off, that 70 or 80 runs in the last 10 makes a huge difference in these totals.”