After consecutive ducks in her previous two innings Tazmin Brits’ teammates were joking about her being on a hat-trick ahead of Friday’s match with Sri Lanka.
“Ja, that first single felt like a mountain (weight) lifting off my shoulders,” said the Proteas opener. A bit of teasing is probably the right way to address a brief dip in form especially for a player like Brits who’s had such a stellar year.
It’s also a good period in the tournament to have a flat spot, as long as your teammates are there to fill in as Nadine de Klerk and Chloe Tryon did against India and Bangladesh.
But Friday saw a return to form for Brits and her opening combination with Laura Wolvaardt that has been so important to South Africa in ODIs in the past two years. “We haven’t been batting very well,” Brits honestly offered.
First wicket partnerships of 5, 26, 6 and 3 in South Africa’s first four matches have put demands on the middle and lower order. Besides her hundred against New Zealand, Brits made five against England to go alongside the two ducks she scored last week.
Wolvaardt, when measured against her own incredibly high standards, has also had a below par start to the World Cup. “Obviously it hasn’t been the best tournament for me overall,” she admitted on Friday.
So the smiles that both wore after South Africa defeated Sri Lanka by 10 wickets in a rain-reduced fixture were justified and understandable. Brits scored an unbeaten 55 and Wolvaardt 60 not out as South Africa kept the semifinal hopes on track.
More importantly, an opening partnership of 125, that sealed the win, arrived at a timely moment in the campaign, with South Africa having just two round-robin fixtures remaining.
“Taz and I just went out as if it was a normal T20 and both got off to decent starts and just kept going,” said Wolvaardt, who was named player of the match, not just for her batting, but also holding on to two crucial catches and her leadership.
The Proteas faced an awkward eight overs in the field after rain had halted the match for more than five hours in Colombo. After initially struggling to get their footing right on a soggy outfield and then to handle a ball that Wolvaardt said was like a bar of soap, South Africa restricted Sri Lanka to 105/7 in 20 overs.
Then they chased a Duckworth/Lewis/Stern recalculated target of 121 in 14.5 overs.
“There is big relief, especially after a five-hour break. We looked a bit nervy when we came back on the field,” said Wolvaardt. “There were a couple of mis-fields. So, I think we did a great job of sort of regrouping mid innings and getting those wickets near the end.
“But especially after our last game against the subcontinent side where we found ourselves in a bit of trouble, it was nice to have a convincing win against a similar sort of side.”
She was also happy with Nonkululeko Mlaba’s contribution as a ‘death bowler’ when the match restarted. Wolvaardt was unable to use Marizanne Kapp or Masabatha Klaas, who’d both bowled five overs already and called on Mlaba, Tryon and De Klerk, to bowl the remaining eight overs of the Sri Lankan innings.
“That was a little bit tricky, especially because Kappy and Klaas are usually quite big for us in the death, so we had to sort of go to the left arm spinners, which we don’t do too often, late in a game. But I thought they bowled brilliantly. I thought Nonkululeko’s last over at the ‘death’ was very good. And Nadine’s last over with those yorkers was good as well.”
Those two overs went for just seven runs, with three wickets added in for good measure. Mlaba, with 3/30 is the tournament’s second highest wicket-taker on 11 and her versatility is something Wolvaardt is relying on increasingly.
“‘Lefty’ loves a challenge. I asked her the other day, what’s her favourite phase to bowl and she said, probably ‘the death’. She said she really likes it when the batters come at her … sort of challenges her and gets her into a very competitive zone. I thought she bowled very well today, so it was awesome,” said Wolvaardt.
The Proteas face Pakistan, also in Colombo, on Tuesday.
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