South Africa’s wicketkeeper-batter Sinalo Jafta is staying positive after her team’s heavy defeat against England in the Women’s ODI World Cup 2025. South Africa were bowled out for just 69 runs in Guwahati on 3 October.
After a tough start to their campaign, the team will take on New Zealand in Indore on Monday. Both teams lost their opening matches of the World Cup and have not faced each other in ODIs since October 2023. Jafta believes that the change in venue has given the squad a “fresh perspective” as they chase their first win in the multi-nation tournament.
“We always knew coming into a tournament like this that games like this can happen,” Jafta said at a press conference, reflecting on their batting collapse. “Because it’s such a long tournament, we just have to accept what has happened. Laura [Wolvaardt] capped it off nicely and said we don’t become a bad batting unit overnight. Obviously, homework was done, and now we’re just looking forward to the next one.”
Jafta highlighted the importance of focusing on the next match rather than dwelling on past mistakes. “We had to leave the town [Guwahati] behind us. When you come into Indore, the people have been fantastic. For us, it’s like a fresh perspective. We saw the first game here – it was a high-scoring day. For us as a batting unit, it’s about knuckling down and batting. Don’t think too much about the outcome – just take it one ball at a time,” she said.
She also admitted that South Africa’s batting against England lacked composure. “We were a bit rushed. We weren’t really present in that moment… It wasn’t a good day, but we won’t dwell on it. We’ve got another opportunity,” Jafta added.
After facing New Zealand, South Africa will meet table-toppers India in their Women’s World Cup campaign on Thursday, 9 October, in Vizag.
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