With a few tweaks, Proteas women believe they can hit back against England

Having narrowly lost to England in the first match of their T20 International series at the weekend, the Proteas women’s team are confident they can hit back against the tourists with a few small tweaks to their approach in the second fixture in Benoni on Wednesday night (6pm start).

England secured a four-wicket victory with four balls to spare in the opening match in East London, and the Proteas admitted afterwards that they could have been tighter in all areas of their game.

Seam bowler Eliz-Mari Marx felt a few adjustments would be sufficient to level the three-match series, echoing the sentiments shared by all-rounder Nadine de Klerk earlier in the week.

“If we look at the batting side, losing wickets in clusters didn’t really help us (in East London). Also, from a bowling point of view we need to tighten up a little bit on the boundary balls,” Marx said on Tuesday.

“So there are some small areas of improvement needed to level the series.”

Having been spearheaded by Marx and all-rounder Nadine de Klerk in East London, Marx said the SA team were again expecting the conditions to suit the seamers in Benoni.

“We’re in the Highveld, so obviously we expect a lot of bounce, but we’ll assess the conditions a little late today after training and go from there,” she said.

Taking opportunities

After being omitted from the national squad for the recent T20 World Cup, Marx was delighted to get another chance to represent the Proteas.

The 21-year-old seamer, playing her seventh T20 International, took 3/19 in East London to lead South Africa’s attack, playing a key role in keeping them in contention until the death, along with De Klerk who took 2/20 with the ball and made 29 not out with the bat.

Marx hoped to continue shining in an attempt to seal a more permanent place in the SA squad.

“It’s obviously good to perform every time you play for the country, and that’s mainly what my focus is on, just to do my best whenever I get the chance to play,” she said.

“I really just focus on the next game and try to take the opportunity with both hands.”