The Proteas will get their 2024 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup campaign underway in the United Arab Emirates on Friday afternoon.

The World Cup started on Thursday and there was a 16-run win for Bangladesh against Scotland in the opening game in Sharjah, while Pakistan claimed a 31-run victory against Sri Lanka.

The 2023 runners-up will face the unpredictable West Indies in Dubai in their opening game of the campaign.

South Africa enjoyed a very good series against Pakistan in Multan recently which has renewed their confidence as it was their first series win since last year’s T20 World Cup at home.

The Proteas captain, Laura Wolvaardt, said they don’t read too much into their warm-up game defeats against New Zealand and India.

“Yeah, obviously warm-ups are just mainly about assessing conditions,” said the South African women’s cricketer of the year. “It’s about trying one or two different things, making sure everyone has a run in the conditions and possibly gets exposed.

Hayley Matthews and Deandra Dottin. Photo: Cricinfo

“It’s just that, and obviously, I had some good chats this morning about the opposition. It’s definitely not a team that we can take lightly. I think you never really know what you’re going to get with the West Indies. They can chase down 250 in a T20 when Hayley Matthews and Deandra Dottin are on song.

“I think we’re definitely going to have to play our best cricket and we’ve had a lot of good chats about their players.”

Play in Dubai is scheduled to get underway at noon.

OFM Sport/Morgan Piek cg