Sune Luus: Proteas women must be clinical in World Cup semi-final

The Proteas women’s team are set to come up against England in their all-important 2022 ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup semi-final in Christchurch on Thursday. The knockout contest gets underway from 14:00 local time (03:00 SA time) at the Hagley Oval and will be broadcast live on SuperSport Grandstand.

READ | PROTEAS IN FOR WHOPPING PAY DAY AT WOMEN’S CRICKET WORLD CUP

The Proteas wrapped up the round-robin stage with another thrilling win against India on Sunday, which was their second-highest successful run chase.

“It has become a team effort,” Luus reflected. “Everybody is stepping up at the right times and everyone has been taking responsibility when they are out there in the middle and they have to do a job, that’s been our biggest thing.

“Normally we would kind of just give up, but over the last few years we have shown the fight, we have shown the character and the biggest thing for us is people taking responsibility for what they are doing.

“Like the other night, Mignon was there and knew she had to take it as deep as possible, she took that responsibility on herself to take us as deep and get us over the line,” Luus continued.

In tomorrow’s semi-final, the South Africans will be up against a familiar challenge of facing England in what will be a repeat of the 2017 World Cup semi where the English side narrowly triumphed by two wickets in Bristol.

When the two sides met earlier in this year’s tournament, though South Africa clinched a confidence-boosting victory in another close battle.

“That was an extremely good game for us. I felt England played well as well, so I don’t think tomorrow is going to be any different, they are obviously going to bring their A-game and we just need to be extremely clinical.

“They have obviously had experience of playing in semi-finals and playing against us in the semi-final as well so tomorrow will just be about who is at their best for longer periods of time and who can stay focused for longer.

“We haven’t brought that (2017 semi-final) up. That was five years ago, teams have changed, and players have grown a lot since that semi-final. We are a way better team in the last five years so that’s in the past and we are looking to tomorrow as a whole new game, in a whole new World Cup,” she added

The semi-final will mark a special occasion for Luus, as well as Proteas star Lizelle Lee, who are set to notch up their 100th ODI caps

Winners of the South Africa-England game will play Australia in the final on Sunday, 3 April at the Hagley Oval.

READ | DEAN ELGAR ‘COMFORTABLE’ KEY PLAYERS PUT IPL BEFORE PROTEAS