Mandla Mashimbyi stresses importance of Pakistan tour

South Africa are currently in the sub-continent, and will face the Pakistani in a three One Day International series starting this Tuesday, in what will be their first competitive bit of action since playing the West Indies in July.

After the third match the following Monday, Mashimbyi’s ladies will play two warm-up matches against Bangladesh and then Pakistan again, before opening their global showpiece against England on October 3. 

"Yeah I think the Pakistan one is very important in terms of us trying to create some momentum into the World Cup and also just discovering that last bit of confidence that we need to make sure that every player from an individual point of view knows where their game is at and they are happy with where their game is at,” Mashimbyi said. 

“There's no lose, lose situation there, you are always gonna win when you go to these types of tours before a big tournament because if you're not on, you'll need to know what you need to do to be on when you get to the World Cup. 

“If you are on, you'll need to know what you'll need to carry on to the World Cup as well. So, it's a win, win for us, it's a very important tour for us to gauge where we're at as a team."

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The coach is also confident that their preparations have been adequate for the World Cup, and says it’s time to now show what they’ve been doing behind the scenes. 

He admits that there could be some nerves within the squad, but pointed out that it could be a good thing for his team. 

"All I can say is that, I think the time of talking is out the window now, we're done with the talking part of things, I think it's action time now. In terms of nerves, they'll always be there but nerves are not always negative, there's also positive nerves because it also shows that you actually care about what's about to unfold," the coach added.