Birmingham: Veteran South Africa batter Mignon du Preez believes that if her side get to execute their plans well against hosts England in their second Group B match of 2022 Commonwealth Games at Edgbaston, then they have a good chance of setting themselves up for a victory.
After succumbing to a 13-run defeat to New Zealand in their opening match, South Africa face England in a match crucial to decide their future in the competition on Tuesday.
England are very familiar to South Africa, with both sides coming off a multi-format tour last month, where England won the T20I series 3-0 and ODI series as well apart from drawing a one-off Test.
The last time the two sides faced off in a global T20I tournament, it was in women’s T20 World Cup 2020, where South Africa stormed to victory by six wickets in Perth.
“We’ve got the plans in place, our execution hasn’t been on point just yet so if we actually just execute our plans, we would definitely set ourselves up for a good win. It is small margins in T20 cricket; it is one or two overs, or one partnership that really takes the game away.”
“I don’t think we were that far off (in the past against England), we played good cricket for most part of the game but then one or two overs let us down. For us, the biggest thing would be to keep on focusing on what we can do and not spend too much energy on the opposition, and if we execute our plans, we would put ourselves in a position to win some games,” said Mignon on the eve of the match.
Despite the loss in their Group B opener against New Zealand, Mignon is upbeat about the team environment where they have been missing a lot of senior players like regular captain Dane van Niekerk, Marizanne Kapp and Trisha Chetty apart from Lizelle Lee’s sudden retirement from international cricket.
“I definitely think the mood in the camp is good and healthy. We have a training session (later) and I saw some of the girls this morning, and everybody looks ready to go. We had a good off day yesterday and the girls spent some time away from cricket.”
“A day away from the game, and just watching some other sports; the Euros Finals, our swimming athletes and the Sevens, there was a lot happening yesterday and it is sometimes good to just get your mind off things a little bit.”
“It is obviously not the start we would have wanted against New Zealand. It is tournament cricket, the games come around thick and fast, so it Is just one of those things you have to park and move on to the next one.”
Being in the Commonwealth Games environment for the first time means that South Africa ‘s women cricketers had the opportunity to soak in the experience of seeing world class athletes taking part in a multi-sporting event.
“This has been really special. We have never been part of Team South Africa, so it has been quite special to be welcomed by the team and actually having gone to an opening ceremony and got to spend some time with all the other athletes.”
“The atmosphere at these Games has just been electrifying. We have been to the village where we get to see athletes from different countries that you always just see on TV, so it has been really special. I am glad that I got this opportunity to be part of Team South Africa,” concluded Mignon.
