Lizelle Lee embraces her better instincts to put Thailand to the sword

WOMEN'S T20 WORLD CUP PERFORMANCE OF THE DAY: The 27-year-old produced a brutal knock at the opportune time for The Proteas after a lean spell with the bat

• Lee delighted to rediscover form
• South Africa claim record win over Thailand

Every club player would be able to sympathise. Lizelle Lee had been creaming the ball, hitting the leather off it and dispatching bowlers dismissively. Yet her confidence was rock-bottom, with barely a substantial knock to her name. Those sweetly timed drives and pulls which found the middle counted for nothing, having come in the nets day in, day out.

New Zealand was the scene of Lee's recent nadir. After a reasonably fruitful one-day international series she made just 45 in three innings. Another single figure score followed in the World Cup opener against England in Perth, as the run of form was put into sharp focus.

A meeting with Thailand in Canberra represented an opportunity, both to ease her problems and create new ones. While on the one hand, the World Cup newcomers were there for the taking, another failure would be an ignominious moment. Just ask England's Amy Jones and Danni Wyatt, both of whom made ducks in their group clash with Nannapat Koncharoenkai's side.

But Lee very much used the outing to play with freedom. She will face more fearsome attacks than the one posed by Thailand, but there was no holding back. The 27-year-old play her way into form the only way a T20 opener knows how - and it doesn't include absorbing deliveries and working out her technique.

ENGLAND V PAKISTAN TALKING POINTS

It was a swing hard or go home approach from the outset. Though she swept twice for boundaries in the first over, it took until the fourth for her to go fully on the offensive. Suleeporn Laomi was then targeted, first as Lee hit with the spin over cover before a thrashing sweeping through long on.

This was not a batting masterclass, far from it, rather Lee finding out a way to score and sticking to it. It was a ballsy way to play, particularly with the jeopardy so high. But this is the ultimate risk and reward format in sport. Conservatism gets you nowhere.

The rustiness which epitomised her form coming into the game was summed up when she poked Onnicha Kamchomphu back down the strip, only for the bowler to spill a simple caught and bowled chance. If anything, the near-miss empowered Lee and she began to hit against the Thailand spinners, first down the ground and then in the 13th over off Nattaya Boochatham through cover and midwicket.

An innings that began with uncertainty had suddenly turned into an explosive exhibition. The closer she reached three figures the more daring Lee got, plundering four through third man and in front of square on the leg side. South Africa's fastest T20 century was then brought up with a top-edged sweep. On another day it drops into the clutches of an attending fielder, but on this occasion it was safe and a boundary followed.

That Lee succumbed from the very next delivery provided an insight into the tension underneath. This was a performance that masked over the fear of failure. Once the weight of expectancy had lifted, so did her concentration. And yet there were still four overs left. On another day the lapse might have hurt South Africa.

"As soon as I try to premeditate, I usually lose my wicket. So I have a saying, see ball hit ball, and that's something that I did today," Lee said, unsurprisingly. 

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

"I think everybody needs a little bit of confidence. You can't go out there not having any. If it's your day, it's your day. You have to cash in."

Much like the South Africa performance, this was far from a perfect, virtuoso performance from the opener. It wasn't aesthetically pleasing nor was it highlight reel of hitting. But that is what made it memorable. The imperfections injected character and notoriety. And for that, it should be celebrated.