Women’s ODI World Cup | Nadine de Klerk walks the talk in South Africa’s run chase

In Nadine de Klerk’s career-best unbeaten 84, there was a method to the madness, one that she clearly spelt out on the eve of the World Cup match against India.

“My role is to come in the back end and finish games. It’s just about adapting to the conditions and building a partnership with whoever’s in there,” she explained.

She did as she said.

Chloe Tryon and de Klerk’s 69-run stand helped South Africa stay in the hunt. When the former fell, with 41 runs required from 24 balls, de Klerk stepped on the accelerator and changed the trajectory of the contest in the first three balls of the 47th over.

“The turning point came in Kranti Gaud’s over; de Klerk really changed the momentum,” India’s Richa Ghosh later admitted.

Richa then took a leaf out of Rishabh Pant’s playbook and hit the deck to bring play to a halt. While it frustrated her, de Klerk took it in her stride.

“It was quite tactical from India. In the end, the break in play actually worked out quite well. We also got a bit of a refreshment. It gave me a few seconds to restart my head and my game plans as well,” she said.

She also stated that South Africa was always confident of the chase.

“We felt it was a par score. We knew that with the dew and under the light, it might become a bit better. We were pretty confident in chasing 250.”

“I think we made it a bit harder for ourselves than we would’ve liked,” she added.