After the 65-run thumping by Australia, South Africa’s Women know there is no real room for spreadsheets or grand plans. They just need a win, any win, and preferably a chunky one. Pakistan at Edgbaston on Wednesday is the next – and, for now, only – hurdle.
“It’s the most important game that we’re going to play in this World Cup,” Sinalo Jafta said, almost matter-of-fact. Her job in the squad has always been part-keeper, part-live-wire. The coaches are leaning on that second bit now.
“I sat down with coach [Mandla Mashimbyi] before, and he literally said, ‘Your energy is going to be gold. It’s going to be key’,” she recalled. “I never want to see someone go through something alone, because we are a team and we are a collective.”
Tuesday evening’s training session was suitably loose: most of the squad kicked a football about while the bowlers tinkered with yorkers on the side square. Shabnim Ismail – who copped a blow on the finger against Australia and briefly left the field – was straight into her run-up.
“She’s tough. Don’t worry about her,” Jafta said. “She’s someone that will put up with it. She wears her heart on her sleeve. The team will always come first. What’s a finger? Just go with it.”
Australia’s result still stings. South Africa had privately marked that opener as winnable and now find themselves deep in tournament arithmetic – beat Pakistan, beat India or hope Australia do the job for them, and do so by decent margins. It is early, yet the margin for error is already skinny.
Mashimbyi’s message afterwards was to take the heat out of the room. “Simplicity,” Jafta summed up. “You tend to overthink, and you think too far ahead. If anything, that game just brought us back. For me, it’s never a loss, it’s always a lesson. That’s how I deal with every situation.”
The batting order is still up in the air. Nadine de Klerk admitted she was “not sure” why she walked out at No. 4, and the leadership group has talked plenty about flexibility. With Dane van Niekerk and Tazmin Brits both benched last time, they have options.
“We speak on trust, right? For us as a team, we trust the coach’s call – and we’re very versatile,” Jafta explained. “We had Dane and Tazmin not playing. Those are people that can also filter in. So if you’re going to say we’re going to have the same XI, I think my coach, knowing him, will just giggle. For us, it’s to just know at any point, the coach might just say ‘go in’. And you’ve done the ‘Go out there and express yourself’. He’s always been that type of person where you…”
She trailed off, laughed, and started again, which felt about right for a side trying not to over-script the next 24 hours.
Pakistan arrive with problems of their own – one defeat already and a bruised net run-rate – but also with enough spin to expose South Africa’s middle overs. Jafta did not bite on tactical specifics, though she acknowledged the bowlers “have parked that Aussie game” and spent time sharpening slower balls, an obvious weapon in English June.
Former Proteas quick Monde Zondeki, watching nets, reckons the contest hinges on the first six overs. “If SA take early wickets, the nerves settle,” he said, “but if Pakistan are 45 for none, it could get edgy.” Straight, simple analysis – very much the watchword inside the camp.
Win on Wednesday and the group unclenches; lose and the semi-final maths becomes brutal. Either way, Jafta’s brief is clear: keep the volume up, keep the mood light, and, above all, “just get that first W”.
