South African captain Suné Luus believes her team will look to savour the experience of yet another ICC Women’s T20 World Cup semifinal against their close adversary, England in the mouth-watering clash taking place in Cape Town on Friday.
The second semifinal gets under way at 3pm (SAST) at the picturesque Newlands Cricket Ground, with tickets available online from TicketPro while all the action will be broadcast live on SuperSport Grandstand (Ch. 201).
Speaking ahead of the all-important clash, South Africa’s first home semifinal in the history of men or women’s cricket, Luus expressed the team’s mindset heading into the encounter.
“It’s going to be a big occasion tomorrow but we have been on the other side (losing side) too many times to know exactly what it feels like,” the skipper noted.
“The girls today in our meeting, we just said we know how it feels on the other side and we don’t necessarily want to be there again so there’s enough motivation for us to just go out and enjoy the game, we have nothing to lose, so we are going to try and play our best cricket and enjoy the moment,” Luus said.
The #T20WorldCup semifinal awaits ????#SAvENG #MyHero #AlwaysRising pic.twitter.com/bXFHgtWRRf
— Proteas Women (@ProteasWomenCSA) February 23, 2023
Having only won three matches out of the previous 23 T20I encounters (1 no result) against England, the Proteas Women will be seeking a much improved display against the English side, with the host nation going into the semi-final with two wins out of four matches in the current T20 World Cup.
After beginning the home tournament with a defeat against Sri Lanka, the Proteas bounced back with a comprehensive triumph over New Zealand before the defending champions Australia brought the home side back down to earth with a win in Gqeberha.
Needing only a victory in the final round-robin tie against Bangladesh, South Africa brilliantly stood up to the challenge to complete a mammoth 10-wicket victory in front of a packed Newlands crowd to set up the semifinal against England.
“It’s always a great honour to be in a semifinal and it was hard work to get into the semi-final, so I am really proud of the girls,” the all-rounder said.
“We are searching for that perfect game where all three aspects of the game click together nicely, so for tomorrow that’s definitely something we will be working on; for the batting, to work on our KPIs and for all those boxes to be ticked, as well as in the bowling and fielding department,” Luus added.
With over 40 000 fans having come out to watch the T20 World Cup on South African soil thus far, a record for women’s cricket within the country, Luus also shared her personal experience of playing in a maiden home World Cup in front of friends and family, stating:
“We’ve 100 per cent enjoyed the tournament. Being at home, with the crowd especially, they’ve been pushing us to keep going and keep enjoying it, so that has been the best part of it all, especially being home, seeing all the people in the crowd, it has been very cool,” she concluded.
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— Proteas Women (@ProteasWomenCSA) February 23, 2023
Who will book their spot in the ICC Women's #T20WorldCup final? Grab your tickets and bring the gees to Newlands to find out, live at the second semi-final: https://t.co/eU44uaUeuw ??
#TurnItUp pic.twitter.com/jOonrSM0g9
The winners of the second semifinal will take on the five-time champions and world number one side, Australia in a hugely anticipated final on Sunday, 26 February at the same venue.
