Proteas are hoping for a step up in Klaas
SOMETIMES it is hard to digest that Masabata Klaas has been around the Proteas Women’s national team for almost 14 years already.
The Botshapelo-born medium-pacer made her international debut way back in 2010 and came through the ranks when the women’s game was still very much an amateur pastime.
Her career has also been stunted by having to play second fiddle for a large part to South Africa’s long-serving pace trio of Marizanne Kapp, Ayabonga Khaka and Shabnim Ismail. But with the latter having retired from international cricket after last year’s T20 World Cup on home soil, coach Hilton Moreeng has needed to lean on the 33-year-old much more in the past 12 months. It certainly has been an asset on the current tour of Australia with only a handful of players having the experience of playing in an international series Down Under before.
Klaas was part of the 2016 touring party and is acutely aware of the challenges a bowling unit faces when confronting the juggernaut Aussie team.
“Coming here in 2016 it was quite an experience,” Klaas said.
“They’re a really strong team. But as a bowler, you always want to be the best that you can be.
“So, bowling against a strong team like Australia is always tough. But if you know what you want to do and if you have plans against them, I think it’s always going to be – I won’t say easy – but it gets better as time goes by.”
The veteran seamer has been consistent without being spectacular in Australia where she has performed her holding role to perfection. She picked up three wickets at an average of 18.66 with best figures of 2-16 in the T20 series, while she also managed to pick up one of the two Australian wickets to fall in the Adelaide mauling the Proteas suffered in the first ODI.
She certainly is not daunted by the Aussies any more and believes despite Ismail’s absence, the Proteas are developing a new crop of seamers led by all-rounder Nadine de Klerk, who was included in the ICC ODI Team of 2023.
“Our bowling attack has been quite good,” Klaas said.
“It’s not only for this tour but we’ve been doing well for a couple of years. So, I must say we have a strong bowling line-up in our team.
“We have a strong team, with upcoming youngsters, so we are ready to compete with them.”
The Proteas will be hoping to bounce back in the second ODI in North Sydney early this morning and Klaas believes the tourists do have the potential to do just that.
“It was a hard pill to swallow (the opening ODI loss), I don’t want to lie. But then we took the positives, and we’re going forward,” she said. “We still have two more games to go, so it can turn out our way in the coming two games.
“Definitely, I believe that we can. We have a strong team and match winners in our team, so I believe yes, we can win.”