The Proteas Women have never beaten England in a bilateral white-ball series, both home and away.
That’s 26 series across both ODI and T20I formats.
Abundant reasons, then, for England to be overwhelming favourites ahead of their full multi-format tour to the Republic, which gets under way in East London with the first T20I on Sunday.
But hold on just a minute: it is the Proteas who have reached successive T20 World Cup finals, with the first appearance being at the expense of England in a memorable semi-final victory at Newlands last year.
And while the English managed some sort of revenge by winning the group game between these two now fierce rivals in Sharjah last month, it was the South Africans who ultimately went on to the grand T20 World Cup showpiece in the UAE.
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In contrast, England were left licking their wounds after a disastrous final group game against the West Indies that saw them fail to qualify for the knockout stages.
Due to the high-profile nature of the women’s game back home, England suffered a severe backlash in the media and some stinging attacks from former players, which may have affected the tourists’ confidence.
Opener Danni Wyatt-Hodge, who was one of the few stand-out players in the UAE, feels that England have heeded the criticism and are ready to move on in South Africa.
“That’s part of the game now, isn’t it?” Wyatt-Hodge told reporters upon arrival.
“We put ourselves out there. People can say what they want, but all that matters is in our circle, and we’re all working really hard every day in training and games.
“We want to keep improving individually and as a team. And people are entitled to say what they want out of this group. That’s fine. We know what’s going on, so that’s all that matters.”
England’s T20 World Cup fate was virtually decided by a string of dropped catches that allowed the West Indies to gain momentum in their run-chase.
Wyatt-Hodge felt that a singular match should not define them as a team.
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“We’ve had a really successful last couple of years, and we don’t become a bad side in that eight or so overs we had against West Indies. We’ve got to look at the positives.
“We’ve played some outstanding cricket over the last few years, and we played some great cricket throughout the World Cup as well.
“We’re here now in South Africa, excited to get going. There’s really good vibes around the group.
“We want to inspire and entertain, as always, and focus on playing that fearless brand of cricket that we’ve played over the last couple of years.”
Wyatt-Hodge certainly believes that England will actually be much stronger as a unit after the defeat, which could serve as a silent warning to Laura Wolvaardt’s team.
“I think the girls will learn a lot from that moment, so we’ve just got to see the positives from it,” she said.
“If we’re in that position again, we’ll know what to do. We’ve just got to move on and make the most of this series.”
