The beats that bring out the best in players at this World Cup include Lady Gaga’s Just Dancewhich was the tonic that turned West Indies around after their opening defeat and inspired two big wins, Punjabi music in the Pakistan camp that even has the injured Diana Baig dancing and a proverbial mix-tape of Afrikaans music and Amapiano – a mix of house, electronic, jazz and soul – that keeps South Africa’s squad connected.
South Africa’s team spirit has not gone unnoticed at this tournament and squad members are regularly asked what it means for them to represent the country that have been in the last two T20 World Cup finals (at the women’s 2023 and men’s 2024 tournament) but have never won the trophy. They are serial semi-finalists and on track to qualify for another knockout but need a big win over Bangladesh and to keep an eye on Tuesday’s match between West Indies and England to secure their spots, and then things will really get serious.
Expectation always stalks South Africa and, more so, their senior players at big tournaments, as Tryon is finding out.
“On these wickets, when you come in to bat, you need to take a couple of balls to get yourself in. And as finishers, we can say that it hasn’t been that easy,” she said. “But our batting coach [Baakier Abrahams] spoke to us about out making an impact whenever get in, so I’m still playing really positively.”
Tryon has been dismissed for 2 in each of her two innings at the tournament so far but has looked as though she wanted to maximise the limited opportunities she’s had at the crease. Against England, she was in during the 16th over as South Africa looked to push towards 140. She was aggressive from the second ball she faced when she got forward to Sophie Ecclestone and then charged Charlie Dean off the fifth ball, missed and was bowled. Against Scotland, she was in the 18th over, with South Africa two away from 150 and pushing for a big score. She started playing her shots from ball one, hitting to midwicket, then long-off, then swinging and eventually skying one to long-on.
The slowness of the surfaces and the amount of pace-off bowling has meant batters have had to be innovative about run-scoring. The sweep shot has been one way of doing that, as players have struggled to get another ball, and for Tryon, strike rotation is another option.
“As a finisher, you kind of have to back yourself from ball one and look at the options. With the outfields quite big as well, running hard between the wickets is something we’ve been doing really well,” she said. “And I think it’s about being a lot more proactive at the crease. If I’m going to sweep first ball, I need to be really confident and have to back myself to do that.”
“As a spinner, you kind of have to get your hips over the front foot and when I first started, I was quite flat-footed and I’d fall to the side quite a bit,” she said. “So Paul spoke about that hip drive, going over the front leg and getting a really good motion into the ball. The more I started doing it, the more the motion felt really good and natural. And then obviously, there’s my variations. Paul has been helping me with getting it to angle in a lot more because on these wickets you can cramp the batter which I think is a good thing to do. It helps to have those options.”
South Africa also have choice when it comes to the type of bowlers they want to use, including a reinvented Sune Luus. The former captain turned to offspin from legspin, after losing her confidence with the latter and identifying where South Africa had a gap. “I’m happy she took on the challenge of bowling offspin,” Tryon said. “It gives another option, especially with match-ups, whether it’s a left-hand batter or something like that.”
With 18-year old legspinner Seshnie Naidu on the bench, alongside two other seamers in Tumi Sekhukhune and Ayanda Hlubi, South Africa have all their bases covered but have, so far, opted to go batting-heavy into games. They use to Nadine de Klerk at No. 8 which, in the absence of runs from Tryon, and to an extent Luus, has papered over most cracks.
“We have a long batting line-up which is something we haven’t had for a really long time,” Tryon said. “Since the last World Cup, we’ve got a lot more depth with the bat, which is important.”
The last World Cup was the home tournament where South Africa enjoyed a dream run to the final. Tryon was part of that squad and “happy that in my career, I could play a home tournament and be part of a team that did that.” She believes this group can repeat the feat and perhaps go further because despite a string of results that saw South Africa fail to win a series between the end of the last World Cup and their trip to Pakistan last month, she feels they have a collective spirit.
“Whenever we walk out there, we want to do our best, for South Africa and for our family and our friends. We just want to go out there and make them proud and bring the nation together; pull them close together. We know sport brings a lot of people together, and we just want to do that.”
As for the music Tryon’s personal choices include “a little bit of R&B and some hip-hop,” which she thinks “everyone likes a bit of,” and a glimpse at her Instagram also shows she’s got some singing skills. There’s a little of Beyonce from her time with the Mumbai Indians at the WPL and some Flo Rida from CSA’s annual awards. The South African national football and rugby teams are known to sing in the tunnel as motivation before they walk out onto the field. Do the women’s cricket team do the same?
“We just sing on the bus,” Tryon said. “Just some good Adele songs.”
And Tryon is not expecting anyone to go easy on her.
Firdose Moonda is ESPNcricinfo’s correspondent for South Africa and women’s cricket
