The Proteas Women will be targeting a strong and fast start on Monday when they face Pakistan in the first T20 International.

The two teams will contest a three-match T20 International series in Multan which doubles up as preparation for the upcoming ICC Women’s T20 World Cup that will be played in the United Arab Emirates.

For South Africa it’s important to do well as the conditions on the subcontinent will be similar to those in Dubai and Sharjah.

Prepared well enough

The captain, Laura Wolvaardt, said they feel they are prepared well enough for the important series.

“We’ve had two practice sessions before the first game, but leading up to this, we had a camp in Durban, which is known for its slower conditions,” said the South African Women’s Player of the Year.

“That was good preparation to face a lot of spin. I expect Pakistan to bowl a lot of spin tomorrow, so we’ve had some good prep against that.”

The Proteas were in Pakistan last year and they didn’t have the best of tours, but Wolvaardt believes that this time they will put up a good showing.

“The last time we were here, and for most of the time since then, we haven’t played our best T20 cricket. But I’m really excited about this series, mainly to see how far we’ve come in the last year. It will be a great judge of whether the work we’ve been doing behind the scenes is working.

Keen to get going

“The messaging we’ve been focusing on as a group, I’d love to see that come through in this series. We want to find that extra 10 to 20 runs and defend that extra little bit in the field. This series is also important just to get us up and running again.

“We haven’t played much since the India series, but I’m really keen for us to get going.”

The first T20 International in Multan gets underway on Monday afternoon at 16:00.

Morgan Piek