South Africans want semi-final berth

The South African womens cricket team has arrived in Christchurch with its sights set squarely on qualifying for the CricInfo Women's World Cup semi-finals.

Coach Rodney Willemburg said the team's first aim was to make the semi-finals.

"Once we are there, cricket's a strange game. It's on the day."

Captain Kim Price agreed. She said the South Africans could "most definitely" qualify for the semi-finals.

"I think anything after the semi-final is a bonus, so the pressure will be on whoever we play in the semi-final."

Willemburg said the team's pre-tournament tour of England, where it lost the one-day series 3-2, was a valuable learning experience. "We learnt a lot. But we are always using the excuse we are learning, we are learning. It's time to produce now."

Price said the tour had helped identify both problem areas and strengths, which the team had worked on during its pre-tournament camps.

Women's cricket in South Africa has been through some turbulent times. Its provincial competition only restarted in 1995, after a 10-year absence. The 1997 South African World Cup team struggled to attract sponsorship and acquire funding. The side is now under the development umbrella of the UCB (United Cricket Board of South Africa), but it does not have a permanent sponsor.

Price said the pressure on the 1997 team to perform well, in order to increase funding and boost the game's profile in South Africa, still applied.

She said the game's post-apartheid resurrection meant race issues were not a factor. The World Cup squad contained three players of colour. She said in Western Province, the home association of seven squad members, junior playing numbers were split 50/50 on white/non-white lines. She expected the racial make-up of future South African teams to reflect the games growing popularity among all races.

Price said that since the 1997 World Cup the women's game had been growing rapidly. "We started with about 1500 players - we've now got over 10,000. There is a huge interest."