South Africa may have completed a clean sweep of their T20I series against Zimbabwe, but the bigger takeaway from their time in Bulawayo could be the emergence of players ready to step into the Proteas’ plans, head coach Mandla Mashimbyi said.
With several players given opportunities during the five-match series, Proteas head coach Mandla Mashimbyi was pleased with how the youngsters responded, particularly their willingness to take ownership of their opportunities.
“They’ve got the quality, they’ve got the talent. So it’s just about them stepping into that authority every time they get an opportunity,” Mashimbyi said in the post-match press conference on Saturday.
The series provided exactly that platform, with Miane Smit making the biggest statement by scoring a maiden T20I century, while Karabo Meso, Luyanda Nzuza and Caitlin Wyngaard also impressed with the opportunities they were given.
Mashimbyi was particularly pleased with how his young charges embraced the environment and were prepared to learn from their mistakes.
“One of our key things is that mistakes are not our enemy here. We are okay with that as long as we learn from them,” he said.
The performances also gave the Proteas greater depth to call upon, with Mashimbyi saying the series allowed them to look beyond the established players and identify those capable of stepping up when required.
“I’m actually happy in terms of the depth, because then we can pick from a lot of players on the path that we’re going to take,” he said.
While South Africa dominated the series, the final match provided a different challenge to the previous three games.
Batting first, SA posted totals of 193, 200 and 205 in the second, third and fourth T20Is, respectively; however, the Proteas were restricted to just 164/6 in the final match.
Mashimbyi gave credit to Zimbabwe for improving with the ball, while also acknowledging that South Africa had contributed to their own slower scoring rate by losing wickets at crucial stages.
“We’ve got to give Zimbabwe credit where it’s due. I thought they bowled a bit better,” he said.
“We probably lost wickets at the wrong times, and that’s probably the reason why we were a little bit slow.”
For the Proteas, however, that was another valuable lesson from a series which was about more than simply winning.
“Any game, however you win, just learn from it,” Mashimbyi said.
And while Zimbabwe were unable to prevent South Africa from completing the clean sweep, their performance in the final match offered encouragement for the continued development of women’s cricket in the country.
Mashimbyi believes regular competition between African nations can play an important role in lifting the standard across the continent, with South Africa keen to see more meaningful cricket being played between the leading sides.
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