Mignon du Preez relieved to find form ahead of World Cup semis

The Proteas women’s most experienced player, Mignon du Preez, seems to be hitting form at just the right time after helping guide the national side to a nail-biting last-ball victory over India in their ICC Women’s World Cup pool match in Christchurch on Sunday.

With over 260 international caps to her name, Du Preez is the most experienced player in the team by a margin, though she has not had the best of World Cups with scores of 18, 0, 8, 1, 14 and then an unbeaten 38 in their washed out match against West Indies.

But then, when it counted in a tight game, Du Preez came good with an unbeaten 52 to take her side to a thrilling three-wicket win.

“It means the world to me. It’s been a tough few weeks and I haven’t contributed the way I liked, but to do it when it matters and take the momentum into the semi-final, I’d take that every day of the week,” said Du Preez.

It was a dead rubber match for the Proteas, who had already sealed second place on the log and a semi spot earlier in the week, but they showed the fighting spirit and determination that will be required in the playoffs.

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India needed to win to move above the West Indies into the playoff places and were on the verge of doing just that when Du Preez, on 51, hit the penultimate ball of the match from Deepti Sharma straight to Harmanpreet Kaur at long-on to leave the Proteas needing three runs to win off the last ball.

However, the third umpire then checked for a no-ball and found that Sharma had overstepped, which brought Du Preez back to the crease, with the Proteas now needing two from two, which they did with two singles to knock India out and send the West Indies through.

Having lost only one pool game, against title favourites Australia, the Proteas will now shift their focus to the semi-finals where they will come up against England on Thursday.

The SA team beat England by three wickets in the pool stages and will hope to repeat that feat against the defending champions in what should be an exciting semi-final.