England cricketer Danni Wyatt revealed on Thursday the “terrifying” moment when Cape Town’s famed Table Mountain cable car lost power and left her hovering helplessly high above the ground.
Wyatt and her teammates had joined tourists on the ride which sweeps over 1,000m (3,200ft) up to the plateau above the city.
“There were a few technical issues that made me very nervous before we boarded the cable car and then it decided to drop a little bit and swung,” said the 31-year-old.
“It was a very terrifying experience. I don’t think I’ll be going up that mountain again anytime soon.”
Wyatt, who is in the country taking part in the Women’s T20 World Cup, said the system lost power due to load-shedding which can blight the country for up to 10 hours a day.
“I’m not going on that cable car ever again. It’s the load shedding, once the electricity goes, that’s it,” she said.
“Next time. I’ll take the stairs.”
The Table Mountain Aerial Cableway, as it is officially known, opened in 1929 and carries around 900,000 people a year.
The company said that a hydraulic system, which kicks into action during load-shedding, had suffered a technical fault on Wednesday.
“What happened is not what we aim for,” said managing director Wahida Parker.
“We sincerely regret the experience that passengers had who were stuck in our cars. We are happy to confirm that all the passengers safely reached the upper and lower stations.”
On Friday, Table Mountain will form the stunning backdrop as Wyatt and her England teammates face South Africa in their World Cup semifinal at Newlands.
Wyatt, who made her international debut in 2010, made 59 as England piled up 213 against Pakistan to complete a perfect run in the group stage of the tournament.
‘Lot of love’
Now, she is determined to continue that momentum as England seeks a second T20 world title after its 2009 triumph and to make up for the personal disappointment of missing out on the inaugural Women’s Premier League.
Wyatt went unsold in the auction for the money-spinning tournament which takes place next month.
“I got back to the hotel and just wanted to stay in my room. I was literally heartbroken,” recalled Wyatt when she discovered she had missed out.
“The girls really got around me, which is really nice. Obviously, some people got what they wanted. Some people didn’t. I was just so proud of the way everyone handled it. I certainly felt a lot of love.”
England is favourite to defeat South Africa which squeezed into the semifinal on net run-rate after winning only two of its four group games.
Wyatt said England will continue its policy of all-out attack which propelled it to a World Cup record score against Pakistan.
“We speak about wanting to break records,” she said.
“We’ve been given a licence at the top of the order to go from ball one. We’ve got the depth in the order to allow us to do that as well.
“Even if it’s going to be tricky conditions, we’re still going to keep going hard.”
South Africa is in the semifinals for the second time having been defeated by Australia at the same stage in 2020.
South Africa skipper Sune Luus believes that England’s attacking game-plan could also be its Achilles heel.
“I think once they lose a wicket, they don’t stop being aggressive, which I think can definitely play into our advantage tomorrow,” said Luus.
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