Injured Proteas Women’s captain, Dane van Niekerk, is behind the World Cup team to bring the trophy home after three years of building a core group of players specifically for the World Cup in New Zealand.
Final preparations for the World Cup in New Zealand are well underway as teams will start playing their warm-up matches this week.
The Proteas Women’s team is led by Sune Luus in the absence of the injured Dane van Niekerk. Van Niekerk will miss the entire World Cup due to an injury that has put her out for three months.
Van Niekerk insists that she will still get behind her teammates and give them the support they need even if it means doing it thousands of kilometres away.
“I want them to go out there and enjoy it. We started off number six in the world in terms of ODI cricket and now we’re number two in the world. It’s been tough. It’s been a lot of hard work getting to this point,” Van Niekerk told Cricket Fanatics Magazine in an exclusive interview.
“I said to Marizanne (Kapp) – ‘Besides the fact that I want to play for my country, I’m just sad that I won’t be there to pick up the trophy with the team.’ The faith I have in this group is up there. I think they can bring it home. We’re not just saying it, we mean it. I’ll be rooting, I’ll be shouting. I’ll be there every step of the way.”
The Proteas Women’s team is no different from the men’s team in that both teams represent the diversity of our country. Navigating through the differences is no easy task, but the women’s team seem to have found a unique way of embracing the diversity within the team.
“We’re a very diverse team. I found that that was our greatest strength. Our players come from different walks of life. I enjoy that aspect of our team because you get to know people on a different level.
“You’re not just narrow-minded about the life you’ve had. You hear stories of players of what they’ve been through, what they’ve had to go through to get to the national side. I always told the team that diversity should unite us and not divide us,” she continued.
“We’ve got a strong squad that’s been playing with each other for a long time, so we’re like a second family. We have a lot of respect for each other on and off the field.”
A special aspect of this Proteas team’s hard work over the past few years has been the role they have been playing in the fight against Gender-based violence in the country.
A first edition of the ‘Black ODI’ was held in 2021 when the Proteas Women’s team took on Pakistan. A second edition took place this year in the series against West Indies just before the World Cup.
The concept behind Black ODI is to show the stance the Proteas Women take towards GBV and also shows support to all women in the country.
“It’s very near and dear in our hearts. I’m a wife, I’m a daughter and a lot more than just a cricketer. The stats (GBV Stats in SA) are shocking and staggering. It makes me sad. We have a role to play because the team has a platform.
“That’s the one thing I’m most proud of about this team – it’s not just about cricket, we want to create a legacy for, not just women in cricket, in sport and in life. Credit to the team, they’ve been incredible with these initiatives,” she concluded.
