Obakeng Meletse
Proteas bowler Eliz-Mari Marx has emphasised the need for substantial improvements in both bowling and batting if South Africa hopes to level the three-match T20I series against England.
After a narrow four-wicket loss to the former world champions in the first T20I, the South African senior women’s team is gearing up for a pivotal second match at Willowmore Park in Benoni today, which is set to commence at 6pm.
The Proteas women have never bested England in any bilateral series, and will require victories in the next two matches to secure their first-ever series win. Despite having the visitors on the back foot at one stage, reducing them to 64/4, South Africa could not capitalise, allowing England to stage a comeback, largely thanks to Nat Sciver-Brunt’s half-century (59 off 54), which proved decisive.
In their batting innings, the Proteas struggled to find the boundary, with English spinners Sophie Ecclestone and Charlie Dean exerting significant control over the middle overs. The pair bowled an impressive eight overs, conceding just 39 runs and effectively stifling South Africa's scoring opportunities.
Marx, who made her return to the side after missing selection for the World Cup, expressed her delight at being back but recognised the need for improvements ahead of the crucial match.
“It was an exciting game for myself back with the team,” Marx stated.
“We will look at the batting side of things; losing wickets in clusters didn’t really help us. From a bowling point of view, we need to tighten up on the boundary balls, but that really is some small area needed to level the series.”
The 21-year-old revealed that she has gleaned valuable insights from fellow Titans and Proteas men's seamer Gerald Coetzee, which she aims to integrate into her game.
“I love representing South Africa, and I really take a lot of my fighting (attitude) from Coetzee. I really enjoyed my comeback game in that sense. It’s good to perform when you play for the country, and that’s what my focus is: to do my best whenever I get the chance to play.”
Marx secured the prized wicket of England captain Heather Knight with impressive career-best figures of 3/19 and expects the Benoni surface to offer some variation compared with the low bounce at Buffalo Park.
“It’s always exciting to get the big players out; it was the plan to go stump to stump; it’s a philosophy we go with; if you can bring the stumps into play, there are many ways to achieve dismissals,” she shared.
“We are in the Highveld, so we are expecting a lot of bounce, but we will assess the conditions a little later in training and take it from there.”