Proteas Women's allrounder Elize-Marie Marx celebrates taking a wicket against India in the fourth T20I at the Wanderers.
Image: BackpagePix
The Proteas Women had only ever beaten India once previously in a T20I series before this ongoing five-match tussle between these two great rivals.
It would be fair to assume that, after wrapping up this series in emphatic fashion with two matches still to go, a bit of the fizz in their performance would evaporate. And so it proved on Saturday evening when India claimed their first win of the series — a 14-run victory in the penultimate match at the Wanderers.
But while the defeat was inconsequential, this series always had more riding on it than just the results.
The ICC Women’s T20 World Cup opener against Australia in Manchester is just a few weeks away. How the team was tracking in their preparation, in a bid to go one step further after reaching successive finals, was always high on the priority list.
Much had to do with testing the depth of the squad in the absence of senior all-rounders Marizanne Kapp and Dané van Niekerk, who are both injured, while also resting senior opening bowler Ayabonga Khaka and Nadine de Klerk.
Coach Mandla Mashimbyi entrusted Elize-Marie Marx with both these responsibilities at the Wanderers. The Titans all-rounder, who only recently had her national contract rescinded, showed she could be called upon whenever needed.
Marx delivered a tidy spell with the ball, finishing with 2/28. Her spell included the wicket of India’s powerful opener Shafali Varma up front with the new ball in the Powerplay, before returning to trap Bharti Fulmali in front at the death.
The all-rounder’s contribution was not done yet, as she finished unbeaten on 21 off just 13 balls in the Proteas’ ultimately failed run chase.
Marx admitted that the competition for a starting berth among the all-rounders within the squad is intense, but that is actually her motivation when she does get an opportunity.
“There are a lot of all-rounders I'm competing with. Nadine de Klerk, obviously, Marizanne Kapp herself,” Marx said after the 14-run defeat.
“I think it's difficult to compete with those people, but those certain players are definitely someone and people that I look up to and compete with. It's actually an opportunity and a privilege to compete with players in that class. I just take what they do and try to run with it.”
Marx believes she can only be in a position to be ready to perform when called upon by doing all the extra work—both physically and mentally—behind the scenes when she’s not in the actual playing XI.
“There are a lot of aspects to cricket, not just the skill side. I think in the last couple of years, I've given a lot of attention to detail in terms of my mental side,” she said.
“Trying to work on aspects to keep staying in the game. Even if it doesn't mean I'm on the field, but just keep working on aspects that I need to improve on. Coach Mandla and I have also been putting in some nice work in the last couple of days in terms of angles and stuff. I think that's pretty good. It's paying off pretty nicely.”
The Proteas have one final game ahead of their T20 World Cup opener at Old Trafford, with the final match of the series against India in Benoni on Monday.
Marx claims the Proteas certainly won’t be going through the motions as they close off their T20 World Cup preparations.
“Everything is just building up to the World Cup. We're just trying to emphasize certain things that we want to work on,” she added. “We just keep learning and keep going forward. Hopefully, we can be on top of our game going into the World Cup.”
Marx believes she can only be in a position to be ready to perform when called upon by doing all the extra work — both physically and mentally — behind the scenes when she’s not in the actual playing XI.
“There are a lot of aspects to cricket, not just the skill side. I think in the last couple of years, I've given a lot of attention to detail in terms of my mental side,” she said.
“Trying to work on aspects to keep staying in the game. Even if it doesn't mean I'm on the field, but just keep working on aspects that I need to improve on. Coach Mandla and I have also been putting in some nice work in the last couple of days in terms of angles and stuff. I think that's pretty good. It's paying off pretty nicely.”
The Proteas have one final game ahead of their T20 World Cup opener at Old Trafford, with the final match of the series against India in Benoni on Monday.
Marx claims the Proteas certainly won’t be going through the motions as they close off their T20 World Cup preparations.
“Everything is just building up to the World Cup. We're just trying to emphasize certain things that we want to work on,” she added. “We just keep learning and keep going forward. Hopefully, we can be on top of our game going into the World Cup.”