Gearing up for crunch game

I am very excited that we are finally in Australia and that the World Cup is just a day away. I am looking forward to the chance to implement everything we have talked about in the last couple of months at our training camps and challenging myself against the best players in the world, some of whom I haven’t played against since the last World Cup in 2005 in South Africa. It was good to get a win under our belt against Pakistan in the warm-up matches while we were all pleased with our level of performance versus India.

I think that gave an illustration of the depth of our ability and what we can do in this tournament and we are all hopeful of getting a top four finish.

The West Indies game for us on Sunday is massive. Some of us have played them before, back in 2005, and we also have got information on some of their games, and we are very conscious they have the potential to be an excellent team if everything is going well for them. We want to concentrate on our game and we know if we play well we should beat them and that should set us up to make it through to the Super Sixes.

On a personal note, I am determined to play to the best of my ability and focus on getting as many runs as I can. As I am no longer captain, there is more time to focus on my game and relax, and I am determined to make some big scores during the tournament.

During the first two warm-up games, the first time we have played under Sunette Loubser’s captaincy, I decided that it was appropriate not to make too many suggestions to her in the field, as all captains have very different styles, but she knows that I am there for her if she needs my support.

This is my first time in Australia and although the schedule is very busy I am looking forward to seeing some of the tourist sights in Sydney. There was a welcome function and I was so excited about having the opportunity to see places such as the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge.

I feel that I have just about overcome my jetlag. There is a nine-hour time difference between Australia and South Africa, which potentially could have been a challenge, but we did as much as we could to prepare ourselves for this and we got some really good advice from the men’s teams.

All the squad tried to sleep on Australian time zones two days before we came out and even on the plane we were told when we were allowed to sleep and when we were not. With two consecutive warm-up matches after we arrived, we wanted to try and ensure we were not jetlagged, and this has seemed to have worked!