Mashimbyi calls for aggressive, energetic performance from Proteas in Bristol

Proteas women’s team coach Mandla Mashimbyi has called on his players to produce an aggressive performance when they take on the Netherlands in a group game at the T20 Women’s World Cup in Bristol on Thursday.

The South Africans are coming off an important win against India, after earlier losing to Australia and beating Pakistan at the tournament. Following this match, Mashimbyi’s team face Bangladesh.

The Proteas are currently third in their group, with only two teams advancing to the playoffs.

“We’re playing for the W in these final two games. We need to make sure we show up and keep on winning … then the other stuff will look after itself,” said Mashimbyi ahead of Thursday’s match.

He added: “We want to focus on how we want to play, and that’s an aggressive brand of cricket, which we haven’t been doing in the last few games. We’re still working towards a complete performance from a batting point of view, and hopefully in the next two games we’ll get the confidence we need for when we go through.”

He said to achieve this the players needed to maintain their “belief” and “make sure they play to the best of their ability”.

Netherlands challenge

While the South Africans have never faced the Netherlands before, Mashimbyi said he was sure they’d be stiff opposition for his charges.

“The fact they’re in the World Cup means they’ve got something about them, and are capable of beating any team. Our focus is on us and how we show up. If we look after our processes we should be in a good spot as a team.”

The coach said there would be no room for complacency against a side which have lost all three games up to now at the World Cup.

“If we are complacent I’d be surprised,” said Mashimbyi, “because every game is important for us now. We can’t drop our energy or intensity. We must bring the right intensity to be in a position to dominate the game.”

The action in Bristol starts at 7.30pm.