Proteas still chasing elusive CWG win

Proteas women captain Sune Luus remains confident they can still win a Commonwealth Games fixture, having so far lost both their group stages matches.

South Africa™s medal hopes were dashed on Tuesday when they suffered a 26-run defeat to England at the Edgbaston Stadium in Birmingham, after falling 14 runs short against New Zealand in their opening encounter last Saturday.

Despite a decent start with the ball against England, the Proteas had to chase a 168-run target, which proved a stretch too far for the South African™s batting line-up. 

"Obviously we had them five [wickets] down quite early and we thought we could restrict them to under 150, maybe 140, unfortunately, we just let it slide in the middle overs and towards the back end," said Luus.

"I think [there were] a couple of overs here and there where we didn't get the required run rate and that obviously puts a lot of pressure on you and it made the required rate creep up higher and higher, and I think in the women's game - even the men's - chasing 12 every over is quite difficult."

The Proteas now prepare for their final game at the Commonwealth Games tomorrow against Sri Lanka, who are also yet to win in Birmingham, and Luus says it's important they come home on a high after an extended stay in the UK, where they had prior series against England and Ireland.

"I think physically we're still good to go, obviously mentally it's been challenging. I'm staying positive and keeping the camp in high spirits but there's still one game to go," she added.

"I think we look forward to that and hopefully [we can] get a win on the board. We've been in England for a long time and to go home on a high would be very good for us."

By Mazola Molefe