Proteas women chasing ‘complete performance’ against Pakistan at World Cup

The Proteas women are ready to produce “a complete performance” and build on their opening World Cup win as they take on Pakistan in their second match of the tournament on Friday morning (match starts at 3am).

It was an unconvincing start to the tournament after the Proteas were made to work hard by an unheralded Bangladesh team, but they managed to pick up a comfortable win in the end and they will be eager to build on that against Pakistan.

Proteas star bowler Ayabonga Khaka admitted that the team was in good spirits and had been working on polishing their skills as they chase a complete performance.

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“The mood in the camp is good, we are fully focused on what we need to do against Pakistan and we can’t wait to get out on the field,” said Khaka.

“We haven’t been working on too much, we are just working on getting the basics right. We are looking for a complete performance against Pakistan and we want to do well in our bowling, batting and fielding.

“We will take the game as it comes and as long as we execute on the day we should be fine.”

‘Executing our plans’

Khaka, who picked up superb figures of 4/32 against Bangladesh and was named player of the match, believes South Africa can still improve and get better, while she is keen to keep doing what is needed for the team.

“It was a great bowling performance from us, we knew what we wanted to do, we knew the conditions as we had been here before and just had to adapt to them,” explained Khaka.

“So I think there is a lot we can take from the Bangladesh game, but we can always improve as a bowling unit and we are looking forward to executing our plans in the next game.

“I always try to do what I am supposed to do, to play my role and assist the team where I can. So I don’t think about taking the most wickets or anything like that, I just focus on doing my job and helping the team.”

Despite having started the competition brilliantly, Khaka doesn’t have any personal goals and is fully focused on helping the team achieve its goals instead.

“I don’t have a personal goal for the tournament, but we have a team goal and that is what I am focussed on, helping the team achieve that goal is all I want to do,” added Khaka.