Luus expects SA to avoid mistakes that put them on the back foot in the washed out ODI

The Momentum Proteas were tepid as they got suffocated by the West Indies Women, left gasping for air, and were only saved by the rain showers that washed out the opening ODI at the Wanderers on Friday.

A flawless Deandra Dottin toyed with the SA bowlers on her way to a career-best score of 150 not out in between two rain stoppages to push the West Indies to 234/3 in the 46th over after they lost the toss and were sent in to bat.

Having been set a revised victory target of 204 from 29 overs under DLS method, SA were staring down the barrel as they tottered to 87/5 by the time the third rain break came and forced a premature end to the innings, with a result possible just 2.4 overs later.

Having been well placed at 41/1 at the start of their daunting chase in overcast conditions, the SA batters had no answers for off-spinners Karishma Ramharack and Hayley Matthews, who both took two wickets apiece before the rains that try in vain each summer to cleanse Johannesburg saved the day for Sune Luus’ team.

It was a tepid showing that SA cannot afford to repeat in the second of the five-match ODI series and stand-in captain Luus admitted as such.

“The camp is still very confident and we are not going to let one not so good game define us as players and as a team and what we want to do in the World Cup and throughout the series,” said Luus ahead of the match that starts at 10am.

“We are still very excited for tomorrow that we can rectify what we did not do right in the first ODI.

“I think we have to give credit to Dottin who played a phenomenal innings where it was one of those where you just say, 'well batted'.

“In saying that I still feel that we could have bowled better and I think our batting was just not great and obviously with the rain and the DLS method it always makes it very tricky.”

Luus said the team had a plan in the washed-out match but did not execute it accordingly.

“A lot of discussions were held yesterday and a lot of plans were made as well and I think if we can just stick to our lines and lengths and not worry too much about what the batters are going to do.

“They played phenomenal cricket two days ago but I think it is where we learn and grow as a team and we are going to step up to the challenge and the girls are ready.

“We have played in four months and so it is always tricky to play that first game with the rust and everything. I think we can look forward to tomorrow’s ODI.”

The rain has not completely gone away and cloudy weather has been forecast for Monday.

“It’s a bit of Cape Town weather at the moment,” said Luus.

“But I think the pitch played well and we saw a lot of turn from Hayley Matthews (who hit a classy 51 from 63 deliveries) and some of the spinners, that was a bit abnormal for the Wanderers but we will see how it goes tomorrow.

“We are expecting it to be a bit sticky because it is still raining today and it will probably be under the covers. We will see tomorrow when we have a look.

“I’m not sure what is the forecast tomorrow but you can’t really play the conditions. You just have to play what is in front of you.”

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