All-rounder Chloe Tryon says the SA team are not looking too far ahead as they target their first World Cup title.
The Proteas are wary of England heading into their opening match of the Women’s Cricket World Cup on Friday, but experienced all-rounder Chloe Tryon says they are confident of getting the tournament underway with a win in Guwahati.
At the last edition of the 50-over showpiece, held in New Zealand in 2022, the SA team lost to England in the semifinals. Since then, they have won only one of the six matches they have played against the four-time World Cup champions.
And while Tryon said they wouldn’t allow previous stats to get in their heads, or place additional pressure on them, she did admit South Africa were expecting a tough battle.
“As a unit they (England) are really strong. They’re led by one of the best all-rounders in the world in their captain (Nat Sciver-Brunt) and I think she leads the way perfectly,” said Tryon, who was playing in her fourth ODI World Cup.
“I think everyone feeds off her and every single one of them are match winners, so we have to make sure we’re playing our game, we show up with a lot of presence and give 200%.
“We’ve shown we can beat them in the past, so we’re just making sure we’re really positive going into our first game.”
One match at a time
In order to pave the way to their maiden global title in any format, Tryon believed the Proteas women needed to focus on the first task at hand, rather than looking ahead to the playoffs.
Beating world No 3 England, who were ranked two places above three-time World Cup semifinalists South Africa, would be crucial in building momentum in the league stage of the competition.
“We’ve always wanted to win a World Cup. We’ve come short in the T20 tournament (having twice reached the final) but the hard work and the grit we’ve shown and that everyone has put in behind the scenes, it’s showing in everyone’s faces just how much they want this World Cup,” Tryon said.
“We’ll take it one game at a time and not think too far ahead. If you focus too far ahead you might get lost a little bit.
“We’ve got our first task on Friday, so we’re just making sure we tick that off our list and get momentum going into the rest of the tournament, and hopefully lift the trophy.”
