South Africa Women's stand-in captain Sune Luus was elated to have quick back-to-back series after missing cricket for nearly a year as they are gearing up for the upcoming limited-overs series against India Women starting March 7 in Lucknow.
India and South Africa are all set to play five One Day Internationals and three ODIs and the white-ball series starting with the first ODI on Sunday (March 7) at the bio-secure Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow.
It will be the Indian Women team’s first international fixture since the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020 final against Australia on March 8 and the first ODI since November 2019 when they played in West Indies.
On the other hand, South Africa is coming on the tour on the back of comfortable series wins (3-0 in ODIs and 2-1 in T20Is) in the white-ball home series against Pakistan in January-February and Sune hopes South Africa women will enjoy “game-time advantage” over hosts India.
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Luus said: “They have players like Mithali Raj, Harmanpreet Kaur and all those players, who we know are top quality. But I think we are well-prepared to face them. We've also had a game-time behind us and I don't think they've had that, which I'm hoping will be an advantage for us.”
The stand-in captain added, “I think, after having no cricket for nearly a year, to having two tours in quick succession is really exciting. It really helps with our preparation for the World Cup next year and I think the more cricket we play now the better it will be for us come to the finals in New Zealand. I think every match we play we need to capitalize on and make the most of the opportunity.”
Luus signed off by saying, “Coming to India is always exciting. We're never sure what to expect when we get here. For this trip, we've never played at the ground, we don't know what it looks like or what the conditions will be like. I think it will be the same for India as well. So I think it's going to be an even contest.”
(With Cricbuzz Inputs)
