Maybe Proteas Women lost it a bit in the middle in West Indies loss, says Tazmin Brits despite half-century

Proteas Women opening batter Tazmin Brits was disappointed with her team’s performance against the West Indies in Barbados on Wednesday, despite putting up a decent half-century. 

Brits, who opened the batting for the Proteas with captain Laura Wolvaardt, got the team off to a positive start during the first 10 overs of the game.

The pair pushed toward their 50-run partnership, which came in the 11th over, but Wolvaardt lost her wicket cheaply shortly after with a run out. 

From there on, the Proteas batting line-up were shaky, and looked far off from the team that put over 300 runs on the board a couple months ago against Sri Lanka and India.

The Proteas ended up losing Wednesday’s game by four wickets via the DLS method. 

One of the major changes to their batting line-up was Mandla Mashimbyi’s choice to move Annerie Dercksen up to No 5.

Dercksen hasn’t really found her place yet, as she was brought in at No 7 against Sri Lanka during their last ODI.

The big-hitting batter fell for just four runs in the middle-order.

The Proteas failed to take the momentum they built in their final game of the Tri-Series into this match against the Windies.

West Indies, on the other hand, came into the game with a low confidence level after England thrashed them 6-0 in a prior series.

By that logic, the South Africans should have come into this game on a high and dominated the match from the get-go, but the West Indies had other ideas and held them to 232/9 in 50 overs. 

Brits said they fell short with the bat and ball, and seriously needed to learn how to start winning their first ODI of the series.

The 57 off 65 deliveries etched Brits’ name into Proteas Women history, as she became the second fastest to reach 1,000 runs in the ODI format. 

“We actually started well with the bat upfront. We got to like 43 or 44 runs in the powerplay, and I don’t think that was too bad,” Brits said.

“I do think we maybe lost it a bit in the middle.

“In terms of bowling, I don’t think we hit our line and length like we should have, and they came out guns blazing, so all credit to them.

“But we are going to have to pull up our socks. We can’t keep losing the first ODI.

“We are going to have to start winning that and making a change, especially going into the World Cup. 

“It’s always nice to hit those milestones, but it’s not as great when you’re on the losing end.

“I would have liked to get to a 100 and maybe contribute a bit more to the team, so we could have gotten to that 260 or 280 mark.

“I don’t like going out like that... I think it’s a bit of a soft dismissal. At the end of the day, I can only learn from it and next time contribute a bit more.”

The Klerksdorp-born right-hander said she expected a bit more movement off the pitch, especially with the new ball and pace, but the conditions did not pan out as she thought they would. 

“The minute they slowed it up, I actually found there was more turn. The older the ball got, I think it got a bit more difficult,” Brits explained.

The ladies will have to get over the loss really quickly and prepare themselves for the next ODI against the West Indies on Saturday, and look to tie the series before the third game next Tuesday.

It will be the only opportunity for the Proteas to put themselves back into the One-Day series.