South Africa begin "ultimate" World Cup against debutants Bangladesh

Sune Luus' side are familiar with the tournament, familiar with the pressure and familiar with each other. But first-timers Bangladesh are dipping their toe into the World Cup waters with little idea of what to expect

South Africa teams rarely need more pressure heading into a World Cup but when captain Sune Luus starts billing the campaign as a do or die moment in her squad's careers, you quickly realise this probably matters more than most.

With a strong core of world-class players - minus the injured Dane van Niekerk - expectation has never been higher of the women's team heading into the 50-over showcase event.

Though without Lizelle Lee for the opening game due to quarantine rules, Mignon du Preez, Laura Wolvaardt, Shabnim Ismail and Marizanne Kapp is a stellar cast any of their rivals would relish to call upon.

But not only are they challenged with bettering either of their semi-final outings from 2000 and 2017 (also their best T20 World Cup finish), going to a maiden final and beyond is also very much on the agenda.

"I think we've played a couple of World Cups together but I think this is the ultimate one for us," said Luus. "And also for a lot of our most experienced players. 

"I think it's their big one. So hopefully we can make it count and we can just make it an enjoyable one."

It is around the fringes of South Africa's world-class stars that the concerns lie. The formation of the top six remains undecided and is now devoid of its two most consistent scorers, while the bowling attack lacks a consistent spinning option Luus can throw the ball to.

LIzelle Lee is missing for South Africa (Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

That said, the skipper is confident that if all parts of the team fire they can be a match for any of their seven opponents.

"I think we have a well-balanced team," she expressed. "I think on the day if all three our departments fire like they are supposed to, I think we can beat any team in the world. 

"So I think it's just going to be a challenge for us to get both or all three respective skills on the day to fire and make sure we do that consistently."

Bangladesh make their grand arrival into a women's World Cup against a South Africa side they have overcome just twice in 17 previous meetings.

Though beaten in both of their warm-up games against Pakistan and England, both matches will have given them an insight into conditions in New Zealand, where they have never previously played.

And it isn't just unfamiliar surroundings Nigar Sultana's side have to deal with. They have never played an ODI against the host nation, Australia or England, with the captain admitting they've been limited to watching their prospective opponents exclusively on TV and via internet streams.

^{Bangladesh celebrate at the T20 World Cup (William West/Getty Images)}

The sporting cliche of 'one game at a time' is never more commonly used than before a major tournament. But with new surroundings, fresh pressure and relatively unknown opponents ahead of them, maybe that adage isn't such a bad idea.

"We are going with one match at a time and you know, this is our first ever World Cup and we wanted to make this World Cup memorable," said Sultana.

"And we know that - we all know that we need to get a good start for the tournament because it is going to give us more courage and more confidence to do well in the rest of the tournament. 

"Obviously I'm trying to give my girls that confidence that no, we don't want to see the names actually that we are playing against South Africa or whatever the team is. 

She added: "I would like to say the two practice matches against England and Pakistan, we started well, but probably couldn't keep up with the momentum.

"I think we all need to prepare and learn how this impacts our bowling using the new ball, all-rounders who can contribute to the bowling or the batting team members who couldn't keep up. 

"We have taken this as a learning curve and discussed these aspects. We are all discussing internally with the coaches on how to learn from this and take these as a learning process for the future."