Tumi Sekhukhune (centre) has been enjoying her role as new-ball bowler for the Proteas Women's team.
Image: BackpagePix
The Proteas Women’s have left behind the sun-lit skies of Durban and the calming sounds of the Indian Ocean for the bustling city noise of Johannesburg where they will hope to seal a morale-boosting T20I series win over India at the Wanderers.
Although conditions have been fairly balmy over the past couple of days on the Highveld, the temperature is set to drop to an alarming 14 degrees and even lower when the first ball is scheduled to be bowled at 6pm on Wednesday evening.
Considering there is also a 70% chance of thunderstorms, it would be fair to suggest that a truncated game may be on the cards.
This could prove problematic on many levels, especially with the Proteas Women’s team having only ever played two previous T20Is at the Bullring.
Worrying about things that are out of her control is not the domain of Proteas seamer Tumi Sekhukhune though.
The tiny seamer has relished the chance to take the new ball in the absence of stalwart Marizanne Kapp with the 27-year-old claiming eight wickets in her last three T20Is.
She was particularly good over the past weekend at Kingsmead, bagging 2/27 and 3/31, to restrict the much-vaunted Indian batting unit in the first two matches of the series.
Although not blessed with an abundance of pace, Sekhukhune relies on her rigid accuracy and control, along with her slower ball variations to achieve success.
“Yeah, I think not having Marizanne in the team is … but, you know, stepping into this role, I think I was quite nervous in the beginning, but the team, the coaches, believed in me and believed that I can do this,” Sekhukhune said on Tuesday.
“And I was quite impressed that I can do well in that particular position. I think for me personally, I think getting to play games consistently, I think it builds confidence.
“So, yeah, I'm quite excited to see what I can bring to the team. And I think I've been working super hard, in terms of getting back into the squad consistently. I think the confidence for me is up there.”
The former Unity Secondary School learner believes the key to her new-found confidence is being able to execute the basics with precision.
“When I'm on the top of my mark, I don't try to think about a lot of things. I'm trying to execute my skill,” she said.
“I don't think about what they could do or if they could hit me anyway. I think I just try to keep things simple.”
After the disastrous tour of New Zealand where the Proteas were trumped in the T20Is (1-4) and ODIs (1-2), Sekhukhune and the rest of the team are eager to close out this India five-match series with two games to spare, especially as the team builds up to the upcoming ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in the UK.
“I think, you know, coming from New Zealand, it was tough, but we've always known that we are a much better team than that,” Sekhkhune said.
“I think as a team, we just focused on the things that we've done well before, you know. Let's try to do things the way that we did it before.
“I think it's very important for us to have a 3-0 tomorrow (Wednesday) because we're preparing for the World Cup and we want to take that momentum going into the World Cup.”