Kiwis keep Proteas T20 World Cup hopes alive, and hope hosts repay the favour

Paarl – It’s New Zealand’s turn now to be glued to their television screens in the hope that Bangladesh can do them a favour in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup.

The White Ferns did their part on Sunday evening at Boland Park by crushing Sri Lanka by 102 runs, and in the process not only kept their tournament hopes alive, but also that of the hosts South Africa.

The Proteas needed the Kiwis to beat Sri Lanka to have any chance of remaining in contention and closely followed the action at Boland Park.

But the shoe is now on the other foot as New Zealand require Bangladesh to spring the upset of the tournament at Newlands on Tuesday evening.

However in typical Kiwi fashion, all-rounder Amelia Kerr adopted a philosophical approach to the whole matter, having resigned herself to the fact the situation is no longer in her team’s control.

“Yeah I guess for us it kind of determines what's going to happen for us for the rest of the World Cup when South Africa take on Bangladesh, so whether we're watching or not I think it's now about enjoying our time together as a team and I think celebrating these last few wins and it's completely out of our control now, we can't do anything now, we can only wait.

“So, yeah I guess we'll know a bit more after that game,” Kerr said.

Kerr instead focused on how her team were able to bounce back from a horrible start to this ICC Women’s T20 World Cup where they were trounced in their first two matches against Australia and South Africa, before bouncing back with convincing wins over Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

She believes the challenge is to get on the front foot from the outset in order not to play catch up later, especially in a tournament as condensed as the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup.

“I think the last two games have been awesome for us but obviously the first two didn't go to plan, sometimes that is cricket and you've got to forget about it but two games in a row was disappointing, but you do have to learn from it and move on quickly in tournament play. It's pleasing that we've come out these last two games and done that.

“But yeah I guess you always want to start tournaments well, you want to start World Cups well and unfortunately we didn’t, but I don't think going into the future that's something to be discouraged about.

“I think we've got some real talent in this group and amazing support staff and a lot of young talent as well. We're really going to grow and I guess from this you can only take learnings from it, and that's what we've got to do moving into future World Cups.”

@ZaahierAdams