SA U19 women’s cricket team ‘ready’ for Aussies in T20 World Cup semi-final

South Africa’s women’s U19 cricket team captain Kayla Reyneke says her team are ready for the big challenge of taking on Australia in the first semi-final of the U19 T20 World Cup taking place in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia on Friday.

The winner of the match will face the winner of the second semi-final between India and England.

South Africa qualified to play in the semi-finals after recording wins against Nigeria, New Zealand and Samoa in group play and then topping the Super Six Group.

Limited time in the field

The only concern Reyneke has is that her team go into the match against Australia having little game-time behind them. In only one match – against New Zealand – did they bat and bowl for more than 10 overs.

Their other matches didn’t go beyond the 10 overs mark, in either batting or bowling, so swiftly did the South Africans deal with Nigeria, Samoa and Ireland while their match against the USA was abandoned due to rain.

“It’s obviously a huge achievement for us as a group, reaching the semis for first time, it’s history for us as a team,” said Reyneke on the eve of the semi-final.

“The girls are feeling good. It’s been a beautiful campaign, but challenging, too, but we’re ready to go now.”

Regarding the fact they haven’t been fully tested ahead of the semifinals – they beat New Zealand by 22 runs, beat Samoa by 10 wickets, beat Nigeria by 41 runs on the DLS method, and beat Ireland by seven wickets), Reyneke said: “All our games have been shortened … so it’s been hard to not have a full T20 match. But we’ve had to be adaptable, and we’ve been good at that.”

Taking on the Aussies

Reyneke added: “There’s no so secret to the success for the team. We’ve been disciplined about what we’ve been doing as a unit, and everyone has bought into what we want and what we’re working towards.

“We couldn’t be more ready, we’ve been waiting for this opportunity. The Aussies have a good reputation, the men and women, but we are ready. We’ll play the player and not the name.”

Reyneke thanked all South Africans for their support over the tournament. “The support has been crazy. There have been so many messages, and we can only say ‘thank you’. We’ve missed the South African food and the people, but keep sending us your support.”