All-rounder Chloe Tryon has conceded that the Proteas Women under-performed in the second T20I against England in Benoni on Wednesday. KHUNULOGO MPOLOKENG reports.
South Africa suffered a 36-run defeat to lose the three-match series with a game to spare.
Tryon, who was one of two changes for the Proteas Women from the first T20I on Sunday, admitted in the post-match press conference that the visitors performed better with bat, ball and in the field.
England were put in to bat at Willowmoore Park and posted a massive 204-4, led by opener Danielle Wyatt-Hodge, who scored 78 off 45 balls, before the hosts were restricted to 168-6.
“As a bowling unit, we didn’t hit our straps,” said Tryon. “We kept bowling to the fourth and fifth stump and with world-class players like England’s, especially with Danny Wyatt up front, we missed the margin.
“I know the margin for error is really small in Benoni, with such a good wicket and outfield, and as a bowling unit we weren’t at our best tonight.”
Wyatt-Hodge, who combined with Nat Sciver-Brunt for a third-wicket partnership of 112 off 65 balls, was dropped behind on nine, while Sciver-Brunt was also dropped on 26 before going on to finish on 67*.
“Well, when you drop a player like Danny Wyatt … Like I said, we were playing world-class players; you drop them, they’re probably not going to give you another chance,” said Tryon.
“But, in hindsight, our powerplay wasn’t as good as a batting unit. You [needed] to add another 20-30 runs up top, and then add 17 in the middle overs and that’s the difference.
“We didn’t start well with the bat and we were behind the eight-ball the whole way and playing catch-up, which is really hard against a bowling unit like this.”
The English attack was led by the spinners, who took five of the six South African wickets to fall, with Sarah Glenn taking 4-20 in her four overs.
Despite the fact, Tryon believes it wasn’t a bad decision to bowl first on the night.
“I still think it was going to be a good wicket throughout; I thought, batting second, the ball was going to come on a little better and we felt that 160-170 was a really good total.
“The wicket is really good here and your margin for error as a bowling unit is really small because the ball travels as well. We probably didn’t bowl as well as they did: I felt they kept their stumps in play for most of the time and had a lot of change-ups as well. If we look at our percentage on the stumps it probably wasn’t our best and that just boils down to execution.”
Tryon shared what she believes the Proteas will have to do to give themselves a chance of winning the third and final match of the series in Centurion on Saturday.
“I think just keeping things simple. In East London, we gave ourselves a really good chance. We played really well throughout that game, it was just small moments where I felt that we lost it.
“Like today, there were small moments in the game where we could have done a bit better. We could have bowled a little bit better and we could have started with the bat a bit better as well and probably not lose consecutive wickets the way we did.
“We’ve got a quality side; I know we’re changing things up and giving girls opportunities, which is really good, but we need to keep things simple, stick to our game plans and skill, and back our performances.”
