South Africa on the board, but bigger tests await

Sometimes at press conferences the questions are more pertinent than the answers. Wednesday, after South Africa dawdled, dozed and dwindled to a two-wicket skyexchange cricket win over Pakistan at Edgbaston, was a case in point.

"Did you have to make it that hard?"

Happily, Annerie Dercksen got the reporter's drift, aimed a toothy smile at the room, and quipped: "I said to the team I'm probably going to die 30 years before I should, because we have a knack of doing this. But the main thing is we ended up on the right side."

Having reduced Pakistan to 50/8 in the 11th, the South Africans allowed them to total 126/9. That was largely because of Fatima Sana, who had faced nine balls when the eighth wicket fell and bristled with aggressive defiance for her 38-ball 55 not out. The recovery was wrought in a ninth-wicket stand of 71 off 54 with Tuba Hassan. Pakistan had a run rate of 4.8 when their eighth wicket tumbled. For the rest of the innings they scored at 8.3.

They surprised Dercksen: "I went off the field [after the eighth wicket had gone down] because I had a bit of a hamstring tweak, and when I came back they were still batting."

Even so, these things happen. As much as teams take their foot off the gas once they feel they have their opponents in terminal trouble, stricken sides sometimes play well. Both were true in this instance.

It was what unfolded next that didn't make sense. Needing only 6.3 runs an over, and harbouring bona fide matchwinners like Laura Wolvaardt, Marizanne Kapp, Nadine de Klerk and Kayla Reyneke in their XI, South Africa wobbled to 107/6 in the 15th. Besides Dercksen's 52 off 35, Kapp's 10 was the only double-figure effort in the top four.

De Klerk needed the lesser-spotted batting ability of Sinalo Jafta and Shabnim Ismail - who scored six off as many balls between them - to stick around long enough for her to make 37 off 28.

A leg side wide to Ayabonga Khaka sealed victory with 19 deliveries to spare. That's as ugly as winning ugly gets.

The pitch was a slow turner, but it was nowhere near an 80/5 or a 107/6 surface. The blame for all the runs that weren't scored lays squarely with the players.

All of which must worry the South Africans. "No, I wouldn't say so," Dercksen said. "I'm more proud of the fact that we were able to pull it through. We're still very confident that we have a phenomenal batting line-up." She would say that wouldn't she?

Coming in the wake of a dismal performance against Australia at Old Trafford on Saturday, when they were bowled out for 107 and lost by 65 runs, the South Africans desperately needed a win - for emotional reasons as well as to keep their campaign alive.

But they will be back at Manchester on Sunday to take on India, who made 170/6 and dismissed Pakistan for 106 in Birmingham on Sunday. Three days later at Headingley they piled up 209/5 against Netherlands and bowled the minnows out for 114.

It's true that the Indians lost four of the five T20Is they played against Wolvaardt's team in South Africa in April. But that was then and there. On the evidence offered by South Africa and India in this tournament, the parameters of their realities have shifted dramatically.

Despite their shamble to success on Wednesday, South Africa remain one more loss away from probably missing out on a semifinal spot. Unbeaten India are in a significantly more comfortable situation.

South Africa have the chance to change that on Sunday. But that won't happen easily, and it will require a much improved performance than they have delivered at the skyexchange inplay so far.