South Africa stay on track as wounded NZ and Devine huddle up

South Africa's day was difficult even before they arrived at Boland Park on Monday to play New Zealand in the women's T20 World Cup. Defeat would probably have taken them out of the race for the semi-finals. At the WPL auction, only four of their dozen players who entered their names were bought.

They couldn't do much about what a bunch of moneyed franchise owners across the world thought, but how they performed was up to them. They had played far below themselves in the tournament opener at Newlands on Friday, losing to Sri Lanka by three runs after totalling only 129/4. Another defeat and they were in danger of being relegated to the kitchen at their own party.

Much the same could be said about New Zealand. In search of 174 to beat Australia at Boland Park on Saturday, they were bowled out for 76. And just two of their 19 players on the auction block landed gigs.

The day ended far better for South Africa than New Zealand. They scored 132/6 and then dismissed the Kiwis for 67. How was it possible that a team who had played as poorly as they did in Cape Town could re-invent themselves so emphatically just three days later?

"We spoke about it just after the Sri Lankan game," Chloe Tryon, who scored and