Dane van Niekerk said that she could not have hoped for a better performance from the Proteas Women in their 10-wicket thumping of West Indies on Sunday.
Van Niekerk praised the work of opening bowlers Shabnim Ismail (2-16) and Marizanne Kapp (4-14), who had the opposition in early strife at 16-5 after eight overs.
‘If I could script it, I couldn’t have scripted it any better. We had our plans coming into the game and it worked to the T. I’m really proud of the bowlers, especially my two opening bowlers – world class,’ Van Niekerk said.
Van Niekerk was coy about her own fantastic bowling effort, which saw her become the first South African bowler, male or female, to take four wickets without conceding a run.
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‘The ball was not coming off great, I can’t tell you what happened there today. I’d be lying if I said I bowled to a plan, all I was saying to myself was ‘don’t bowl a full toss’ and I think they [West Indies] just missed the balls,’ she remarked.
The skipper stressed the need for the team to not get ahead of themselves and to realise tough opposition still awaits them.
‘The most important thing is to stay on top of our game, and we know that it’s not going to be like this in every match. We spoke about this before we went out to bat that we mustn’t get ahead of ourselves, we still have to face some tough competition, including Sri Lanka, who are looking good at the moment,’ Van Niekerk commented.
As for the end goal for the side, Van Niekerk said the team’s ambitions remain unchanged.
‘We don’t want to underestimate anyone. We came here to win a World Cup and that’s what we’re going to work on doing,’ Van Niekerk concluded.
The Proteas will aim to take another step towards the semi-finals when they face hosts England on Wednesday.
