Cape Town — Momentum Proteas head coach Hilton Moreeng along with all-rounder Suné Luus are keen to begin their final preparations towards the hugely anticipated ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, when they face India on Thursday in the Women’s T20I Tri-Series.
“For us as a team, the build-up has been very good. It’s been a while that we’ve been working, and the team and the squad has been gelling very nicely over the last couple of days. The good thing is we’ve been here before and we could acclimatise and even see what the conditions offer,” he said.
“Where we are now, the combinations have been coming off well. As a squad, we are in a very positive mood, every player knows where they fit in and it is just for us to know when the opportunity comes as the games come thick and fast, that we can make sure that each and every member of the squad can get an opportunity in the middle to ensure that come the World Cup, everyone has enough game time.
“We are heading in the right direction,” the head coach added.
Looking at their first opponents, India, in a Tri-Series that also features the West Indies, South Africa last played the subcontinent side in the shorter format in March 2021, where the Proteas Women recorded a famous 2-1 series win away from home in Lucknow.
That success helped the South African side improve their win ratio to 33% against India, with four wins in 13 matches that also includes a no result.
Speaking on the eve of the opening clash, skipper Luus touched on her side’s approach to facing the challenge of the 2020 T20 World Cup finalists.
“We’ve seen the Indian team and we have played against them a lot. They’ve played against England Australia recently, so we know what to expect, we know all the combinations that they can possibly throw at us.
“We are just excited to kick off the Tri-Series and get the games underway,” she concluded.
Momentum Proteas 17-player squad for T20I Series (v India and West Indies):
Suné Luus (captain), Chloé Tryon (vice-captain), Anneke Bosch, Tazmin Brits, Nadine de Klerk, *Annerie Dercksen, Lara Goodall, Shabnim Ismail, Sinalo Jafta, Marizanne Kapp, Ayabonga Khaka, Masabata Klaas, *Tebogo Macheke, Nonkululeko Mlaba, Tumi Sekhukhune, Delmi Tucker, Laura Wolvaard