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ICC WOMEN'S WORLD T20

November 14, 2018

Dane van Niekerk

Gros Islet, Saint Lucia

West Indies - 107/7, South Africa - 76/all-out

Q. What was the thinking when you started approaching trying to get the required runs? You all felt very confident that you had the batting to pass the West Indies score?
DANE VAN NIEKERK: Yeah, we've got a very good batting lineup, from 1 to 8, we can take the game away from you at any moment. You know, Lizelle and Laura both were at the top. I felt they batted a bit slow. You know, chasing 170, you need 5-1-5 and over for 20 over. So it kind of spells it out for you there. And I think we got ourselves into trouble quite early. You know, bowling ourselves down. And I think we played catch up. There were a lot of very soft dismissals.

And you can't rebuild in innings if you keep on losing wickets consecutively.

Q. You were 41-to-1, I think, after 10, and at that time I wrote on my pad, South Africa going steady, very easy. Explain to us what happened after that.
DANE VAN NIEKERK: Just panic. I don't know. Sometimes we just find a way to make it quite difficult for ourselves. I don't know what happened. I don't know what the thinking was. Like you said, we went quite steady and we struggled about having wickets in hand. On a wicket like this, we saw the bulk of the runs getting scored at the back end.

So I thought that was the thinking of the batters in the middle, just keep steady, keep rotating the strike and we'll try to win the game in the 19th-over type of thing, but looks like it was a bit of panic session there.

Q. Where does this defeat leave you?
DANE VAN NIEKERK: Need to beat England and then Bangladesh to get through. That's plain and simple for us and we really need to step up to beat a quality side like England. And you can't underestimate a team like Bangladesh as well.

Q. Is the spirit of the girls shattered, very low right now?
DANE VAN NIEKERK: Obviously disappointed. I won't say shattered. I think we played really well against Sri Lanka. There was a lot of positives. And we are a positive side, we are. But we have to go look at the way we went out, and obviously there's -- be open and honest about it and move forward. That's the nature of the beast. It is what it is and we need to move forward.

Q. In this game, we noticed that it was kind of evenly matched, the same fashion as the West Indies (indiscernible) the pace, the four-seamers and the West Indies' four-seamers. But then they spin it a little more, more tricks for the West Indies. Do you think that somewhere along the line, West Indies were able to get the bowling unit a little more penetrated than yours?
DANE VAN NIEKERK: I guess yes and no. Like I said, there was a lot of soft dismissals. I don't think there were many batters that came off and said they got beaten by a brilliant ball, for instance. So, yeah, West Indies batted really well to get them to 107. I think we did well to restrict them. I think they scored 60-odd in the last eight overs or so. So they did really well.

West Indies just found a way to get wickets in clusters. And, again, we, I guess, panicked and that's stuff that's probably not -- that's stuff that some of the batters won't generally do.

Q. Your base bowling seems to be a very key component in your attack. Moving forward you will get to change this, you'll keep on with that fashion?
DANE VAN NIEKERK: Yeah, won't change anything that's working. No, they've been brilliant. My opening pin and obviously my change bowlers have been really good. And definitely not going to change it. I don't know if (indiscernible) has any other plans. It's working and at the moment I can't fault my bowlers.

Q. At the beginning of your match what was your target in trying to get the West Indies out? How much were you looking to restrict them, and how pleased were you with your actual bowling attack and how the bowlers did?
DANE VAN NIEKERK: I don't think we had a target. I guess we just -- we spoke about our plans for certain batters and we just tried to restrict them. We know how powerful they are. Deandra Dottin at the top there, she gets going, she can destroy any bowling lineup in the world.

I don't think we were focused on a certain number. We just thought that if we brought really good lines up front, especially Kappy and Shabi, we can restrict them and try and get through the top order. We did just that, but I think we took our foot off the gas there in the middle. And Kyshona, I think it's Kyshona -- not Kycia, it's the other one -- one of the Knight sisters batted really well and McLean as well. They made the bad lines pay. Anything off the stumps went. So, yeah.

Q. And your game against England comes up to be like -- actually both games are now must-win games for you. Anything that you're going to try to do differently as a team? Obviously improve on the batting?
DANE VAN NIEKERK: Yeah, we need to bat. If you're going to win a World Cup you need to chase 107-down convincingly and we didn't do that. We really need to go do some introspections as batters and then try and figure out where we're going wrong at the moment, because it's been a bit of, I don't know, I don't know if it's a habit or what it's been, but since the warmups our batting struggled to get to 100.

Q. West Indies held some really good catches and some directed run-outs. Can you say something about their fielding?
DANE VAN NIEKERK: Yeah, they're athletes. They're brilliant in the field. I'll never fault them. They get to the ball really quick. They stay very low. And they've got gun arms. You're always under pressure when you're running and they showed it tonight again.

And when you're fielding like that you're putting pressure on a batting unit even though they're chasing a low score. And have to give full credit to them; they're bowling and fielding turned up tonight.

Q. It was a losing cause, but you're opting bowler, 3 for 12. She must feel well. Probably did enough but she really put South Africa in a very strong position?
DANE VAN NIEKERK: Yeah, Shabnim has been brilliant since the first game to now. She's been amazing. Like I said, I can't fault by bowlers. They're not doing anything wrong at the moment. 107, if somebody said that to me before the game I'd say I'll take it and let's go and bat. Like I said, it's the nature of the beast at the moment.

And we just need to find a way to bounce back. It is a tournament. Anything can happen. We've seen funnier things happen, but we just need to bounce back as a unit.

Q. When you last played against England what's your record against them?
DANE VAN NIEKERK: I have no know idea what the record is but the last time we played against them we actually beat them in England. In the first game they beat us and the second game we won chasing. (Indiscernible) and Sune.

Q. So all to play for?
DANE VAN NIEKERK: Yeah, it's a tournament. If we want to, we never know what happens. Like I said, we just need to be positive, get a bad day out of the way and hopefully the sun's going to shine tomorrow anyways. Let's hope so, Saint Lucia.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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