Covering South African cricket, including the Proteas
Quotes
‘In the end, what matters is that the trophy is sitting in your dressing room and not in the opposition’s dressing room and that happened to us. It was the ultimate feeling on the cricket field to take that victory lap as champions, there cannot be anything better than that.’
‘Ashwin seemed to pause to allow Buttler to go out of his ground and then obviously he put the wicket down; Buttler did not really make much of an effort to get back into his ground. It is one where we just felt the pause was just too long and therefore not within the spirit of cricket.’
‘I always believed that development in our country is not possible strongly without politics… now I have the opportunity to do something for my country. I don’t know what is awaiting me after the 2019 World Cup. I value my time and I am paying attention to it. I believe that everything has to be done at the right time.’
‘The performances of Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana are quite important. They will be key wickets. Also, their bowling attack is quite well-suited to the pitches out here. They seem quite well-drilled in what they’re doing. We’re working hard to counter that.’
‘We just need to be positive, get a bad day out the way. The sun’s going to shine tomorrow anyway. Well, let’s hope so, in St Lucia.’ – Proteas Women skipper Dane van Niekerk
‘We know we’re the lowest-ranked team and we have a massive task ahead of us, but we’re here to cause upsets. We’ve been working really hard the last couple of years. We’d love if we could automatically qualify for the next World Cup. That’s quite a realistic target for us.’
‘I was a part of all the previous ICC Women’s World T20s right from the first one in 2009, when I was leading the India side. Those were tournaments held alongside the men; yes, people were watching, and there was good publicity for the women’s games, but what I found was that by having it simultaneously with the men, the women would be in the shadows.’
‘We were either too defensive or too attacking. I can see the way Keemo [Paul] and [Fabian] Allen finished. If we had wickets in hand, we would’ve got 130-140, which would’ve probably been a winning score.’
‘Pitches turn the most in the fourth innings, and I feel my strength is bowling line and length for long spells. You get a lot of support from the surface when you do that. Those are the reasons for that record, I think.’
