Nonkululeko Mlaba admits to nerves ahead of T20 World Cup

South Africa was beaten by Australia in the first of those in 2023, while they again fell short against New Zealand the following year in Dubai. She hopes the injection of experience in the team will help them get it done at the third time of asking in England.

"Yho, obviously going to this World Cup, I have a bit of nerves since we've lost two finals in a row. But yeah , I am really excited, especially now because we have other people that got back. It's exciting to see," said Mlaba.

READ: I’m already at Lord’s – Confident Mashimbyi ahead of T20 World Cup

The players got into camp last week Thursday for a team builder, and Mlaba revealed that they did address that elephant in the room. She believes they have now gotten it out of the way and declared that they are ready to bring the trophy home.

Mlaba played in both those matches as they faced the heartbreak of coming close to the trophy but not touching it, but says it was the one at home against the Aussies that cut deeper.

"Very fresh, very strange, I'm not going to lie. It was the very first time playing in a final, so I would say everyone was very nervous, even though we had a lot of people supporting us because we were playing at home. The crowd , but our nerves were still there because we didn't know what to do. It felt like we didn't know how to play cricket at that point."

The Proteas Women cannot afford any lapse in mental fitness during the tournament, and will have the services of team psychologist Dr Koketjo Tsebe in camp to deal with that. Mlaba spoke of Dr Tsebe’s importance for them.