Lizelle Lee pleased to rediscover batting confidence with maiden international T20 century

The opener's 101 against Thailand in Canberra helped South Africa smash records and extend their unbeaten run at the T20 World Cup

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• Lee hammers century in record-breaking win

South Africa's Lizelle Lee has spoken of her delight at rediscovering her batting confidence after tallying a century against Thailand in a thumping win in Canberra.

The 27-year-old opener struck 101 from 60 deliveries against the T20 World Cup newcomers to extend the winning start for Dane van Niekerk's team, and her fifth ton in the T20 format was also her first while on national duty.

But Lee admitted that her morale had taken a blow through a difficult start to her side's trip to the Oceanic region, in which she had registered only 66 runs in five T20 fixtures and struck at below a run a ball before today's game.

"Things haven't gone my way since we had the New Zealand tour so it was just good to get a few runs on the board and get that confidence back," Lee said.

"It's two different things batting in the nets and batting out in the middle. I think I was hitting the ball very well in the nets and it just didn't come off in the middle.

"It does make a little bit of a dip in your confidence, but I'm just happy to get the runs on the board and make sure our team wins.

"Me and Sune [Luus] didn't have a good powerplay – we were a few runs short and we decided we had to get to 100 by the 13th over.

"But we just tried to stick to the plan and it paid off [to] accelerate from that moment on."

^{Lee's second-wicket partnership of 131 with Sune Luus was a new T20 record for the Proteas}

After posting 195 – the highest team total in tournament history, edging out India's 2018 effort against New Zealand by one run – South Africa are now just one of two unbeaten sides remaining.

A positive result against Pakistan on Sunday would likely guarantee the team a semi-final berth for only the second time in the seven editions of the T20 World Cup, where they would join India after Harmanpreet Kaur's squad secured their spot with a tense three-run win over New Zealand in Melbourne yesterday.

However, Lee insists they are not yet satisfied with their performances despite a 113-run margin of victory against Thailand and last Sunday being the first time in almost 20 years that South Africa's women had come out on top against England at an ICC event.

She added: "I have to be honest, our fielding was very poor, so hopefully we pull our fingers out and do better in the next game.

"We know we are a great fielding unit, [but] we normally have one of those games somewhere along the line, so I'm just happy that it's gone now.

"We try to take it as seriously as possible. Every game is a must-win for us, and it's just one of those days where things just don't go your way in the field.

"But the fielders that dropped the catches probably do it one of like 100 times, so we definitely know we're going to do better in the next game."