Captain Dane van Niekerk was all but devastated as the Proteas Women lost Thursday’s rain-affected semi-final at the Sydney Cricket Ground to Australia.
Pursuing a revised target of 98, the Proteas Women only managed 92-5. The result pushed Australia into the tournament final against India later this week.
‘It’s very upsetting. The team is quite distraught at the moment,’ said Van Niekerk.
‘It’s the second time we’ve come really close in a semi-final. We just didn’t get over that hurdle of the semi-final. Everybody’s hurting, and that hurts me.
‘As a team, we came to play cricket, we did not look at the weather. We felt if we wanted to go to the final we had to beat the best in the world. Everybody was up and about and ready to play the game. I cannot fault my teammates one bit in any facet of that game.’
South Africa would have advanced to the final had Thursday’s semi-final been washed out. They had topped their group, as had India.
‘We are here to play cricket. I’d rather lose then get a free pass into the World Cup final. I thought tonight was the night but it wasn’t meant to be. I had a calm heart about tonight. When I came to the ground, no matter what happened, rain or shine, I was really calm,’ added Van Niekerk.
