Proteas Women eager to bounce back in first ODI at Buffalo Park

Proteas Women captain Laura Wolvaardt maintains her team is not carrying mental scars from their T20 series loss to Sri Lanka and insists they are eager to hit back when the ODI series starts at Buffalo Park in East London on Tuesday (2pm).

The Proteas were beaten 2-1 by the islanders in the shorter format series on Wednesday last week.

This sparked some concern about the Proteas’ chances at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September.

Among the issues was the inability of the team’s middle order to contribute runs and capitalise on the foundation set by the top order.

As the squad turn their attention to the three-match ICC Women’s ODI Championship (2022-25), which determines qualification for the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup, Wolvaardt remained positive they will turn their fortunes around in the longer format. 

The Proteas have been on a good run in the championship.

They are in second place and within touching distance of Australia, who occupy the top spot after winning 10 out of the 15 matches in the championship. 

Though their preparation was slightly hindered by rain over the weekend and on Monday, Wolvaardt said they have been doing a lot of introspection. 

“Not the way we wanted to end the series [T20I] but we have used the past few days to talk about what we wanted to achieve in the ODIs. I think we are all good to go tomorrow,” she said.

“We could have been a lot better in all three departments in the last T20, we dropped some key catches, and we did not execute well with the ball and the bat.

“We fell flat in the middle periods. We improved on our power play and death overs and also rotated the strike a little better.

“We spoke about the plan around that and retouched on our ODI framework and blueprint and how we would like to go about that.

“I think ODIs have been our strongest format and we will look to do the same as we have been doing. We find ourselves in quite a good position on the log, but we have a lot of tough series coming up.

“Every point we can secure is good. This is a huge series because Sri Lanka is a good side and they showed that in the T20s by putting up some good performances.

“This is not a series we can take lightly. We will have to be at our best if we want to secure as many points as we can.”

The Proteas have made a notable inclusion in 16-year-old wicketkeeper-batter Karabo Meso from the Lions, who earns her maiden ODI call-up after making her international debut in the second T20I against Sri Lanka.

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