Nadine de Klerk praised the Proteas Women’s character after they secured a sensational three-wicket victory over India in the Women’s World Cup.

De Klerk was the hero as she posted an unbeaten score of 84 off 54 balls to secure the win for South Africa.

The Proteas Women have now moved up to fourth place on the table with four points, having won two games and conceded one defeat.

De Klerk was named as the Aramco Player of the Match for her exploits throughout the match.

“It got a bit more tricky when (Chloe) got out, but I guess it’s just about the belief and the character at the end of the day, and we just wanted to stick it out and fight really hard because we knew how important this game was for our team,” de Klerk told media post-game.

“Really glad we got over the line. I think the most important part is, and we’ve seen it in this World Cup, is you just have to stick it out. Doesn’t matter if you’re batting No.8 or No.9, (you just have to) give yourself a chance. I mean, Richa (Ghosh) did it today for India as well. Just try and bat time.”

“And I guess when it comes to the back 10 (overs), you can really start backing yourself and try and take the game on. And if it does come off, that 70 or 80 runs in the last 10 makes a massive difference in these totals. I think seam (bowling) was much easier on this wicket and I think even when we bowled the back end, we felt like it was a pretty good wicket.

“But I think their spinners bowled really well in that middle phase. So, I think especially in that back 10, we knew they’re going to have to bowl a few seamers and that was going to be the much easier option to take on.

“So, I think, like I said, we just played smart cricket. Me and Chloe just tried to take it really deep. We knew that if we had to get 40 of the last four and the two of us were still batting that we could get it. So, it was just about building that partnership, getting ourselves in and then taking especially the pacers down. And that was always the plan to try and take the pacers down. Which was much easier on that surface.

“We were pretty confident in chasing 250. I think we made it a bit harder for ourselves than we would have liked. But, like I said, there’s a lot of positives and glad we got over the line today.”