The Proteas women are one win away from the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup semi-finals with a seemingly routine outing against Bangladesh their final group stage obstacle.
South African cricket fans will likely already be chewing their nails because of the Green and Gold’s history in ICC tournaments.
Rain, moments of madness and mass capitulations have made interventions to deny South Africa’s progression on the big stage.
The most recent of those heartbreaks came with the spectacular loss to the Netherlands by the Proteas men, in a tournament marked by the struggles of the skipper Temba Bavuma.
There has already been drama for the Proteas women in this campaign as their regular skipper Dane van Niekerk failed a fitness test and was left out of the final squad.
The campaign started on a rocky footing and things got worse when spin undid the Proteas in their opening match against Sri Lanka.
The match against Bangladesh provides the Proteas with a very good chance to banish some of those World Cup demons.
Not only can they get a win to book a place in the T20 World Cup semi-final but they can also set up some of their batting stars to get into better touch.
The upcoming contest will come with intense pressure, with a big crowd expected to turn out to Newlands to cheer on the Proteas.
A slip-up would further cement the notion that there might be some sort of curse in action against the Proteas, even if it is purely forged in the minds of fans.
Stand-in skipper Sune Luus leads a Proteas unit that must pull together, and this is a bar they should be clearing.
The match against Bangladesh could also be the launching pad that gives this team the momentum to pull off a huge upset and deny Australia a title that looks like it is theirs to lose already.
