HAVING missed the first leg of the Proteas Women’s outbound tour to India due to a back injury, experienced all-rounder Chloe Tryon has returned to camp ahead of the three-match T20 series in the subcontinent.
Given that this series is the team’s last bit of preparation ahead of the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in October, Tryon’s return to camp is a massive relief for the team as they now get to prepare with a full-strength team.
Moreover, South Africa were finalists in the last edition, meaning that they go into the forthcoming edition with an added bit of pressure and a target on their backs.
Tryon told the media yesterday that as frustrating as the lay-off was, it helped recalibrate her mentality and recharge her batteries in what will be a crucial few months for her and the team.
“(The lay-off was) frustrating. It was a bit disappointing. It’s something I can’t control but I just made sure once I was home that I was getting myself ready for the World Cup. That’s the bigger picture,” she said.
“I love watching cricket on TV but I don’t like watching the Proteas play because it gets a little bit stressful, wishing I could be part of it. (However,) it was really good from a mental side.
“Once I switched off, I started digging deep making sure I was ready on my game. (I was thinking) once I get back to the environment, what can I bring into the team and how can I contribute as much as I can leading up to the World Cup.”
The 30-year-old returns to a side that has lost all four matches played on tour thus far – three 50-over matches and a Test match. Tryon reckons the team only needs to display consistent intensity on the field to get the results.
And given some of the top performances by some of the players on this winless tour, including Test centuries by Sune Luus and Laura Wolvaardt, the Proteas Women don’t seem very far from playing their best game.
Of her individual game, Tryon says there is more to being a finisher than going into the middle looking to hit a boundary off every ball. Instead, the right-handed batter wants to take her time and bat for long spells in the coming series.
“When I started, I became this explosive hitter. I used to come in with three to four overs remaining and I used to put so much pressure on myself to score runs in that time. Having all that pressure, I used to go out most of the time,” said Tryon.
“We played a lot of good cricket in patches. If you want to narrow it down, we want to be a little more consistent. If you look all-round, we’ve had really good stages of the game and then not so good.
“There are key moments in the game where I felt that, watching from back home, we could’ve stepped up a little bit more and we didn’t. Consistency will give us confidence heading into the World Cup.”
The first T20 will get under way at 3.30pm SA time tomorrow in Chennai.