The Proteas are quietly confident that they will become the first senior national team to win the World Cup.

According to all-rounder Chloe Tryon, the South Africans will look to keep things simple and continue to play the brave brand of cricket that they have been playing so far.

The Proteas will get a second bite of the cherry when they take on New Zealand’s women in the final on Sunday.

South Africa booked their place in the final for the second consecutive year in emphatic fashion.

They avenged their loss to Australia in the final at Newlands in Cape Town last year — trouncing the defending six-time champions by eight wickets in the semi-final on Thursday evening.

According to Proteas all-rounder Chloe Tryon, the mood in the camp is relaxed and the team will look to keep things simple.

“I feel we have learnt a lot quicker than before we also feel like we have nothing to lose we didn’t really come into the tournament being nervous the fact that we played in a final there was no big expectation for us to get into another final we narrowed it down and just focussed on every single game in front of us we played a lot of games leading up to this and I think we have been in situations where its hasn’t gone our way but we found ways to try and bounce back as quick as possible I feel like players have been exposed to that and they just want to do better every single game and I feel like we have gelled really well on making sure that we’re going out there and being brave and playing really good cricket.

New Zealand, two-time runners-up in T20 World Cups, will also be eager to secure their maiden win.

Just like the South Africans, they lost just one match in the group stage, playing themselves into form as the tournament progressed.

“A lot of fight, lot of character. If you look at how they played this whole tournament, they hadn’t really won a lot of games coming into the World Cup. And to turn things around, starting on a high against India, they showed resilience and a lot of character shown it’s going to be a good fight on Sunday we expect that and we are really excited for it,” Tryon explains.

The Proteas men’s team who is currently preparing for their two-match test series in Bangladesh have sent their messages of support to their counterparts, encouraging them to finally end South Africa’s trophy drought at the senior level.

Proteas Bowler Keshav Maharaj says, “The girls have done us immensely proud over the last three years. Yet another final. Hopefully, we can go all the way with just some words of encouragement to them – just be yourselves, be the best version of yourself, execute your skills, play together… and when you are feeling a bit of pressure, look to the person next to you and draw inspiration from that.

“Everyone has a reason to play for and I know that you have placed your reasons at the back of your collar so if you need reminding with regards to that just have a look at the back of your collar or get your teammate to do it but all in all you guys have made us exceptionally proud and we know you’re going to go the whole way play hard to enjoy the moment enjoy the game enjoy the occasion make a new memory for south africa that we have been waiting for a long time we will celebrate you guys from abroad,” says Maharaj.

The match at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium gets underway at 4 pm South African time.

--SABC--