Saarah Smith determined to impress for WP

Saarah Smith has emphasised making her domestic form a priority to open up more opportunities for her at national level, writes Khalid Mohidin.

The 20-year-old batter had a fruitful taste of international cricket. Not necessarily from a performance point of view – having scored just six runs in seven matches – but from the experience she gained by having attended two national camps.

After being named in the World T20I squad in October 2018, she was unfortunately ruled out of the tournament the following month when the competition kicked off.

With a long career still ahead of her, Smith has accepted the adversity as a learning curve rather than allowing it effect her progression.

“It was a dream come true. My dream was always to play for South Africa, and to get that opportunity was amazing,” she said exclusively to Cricket Fanatics Magazine.

“The camp was unbelievable. Just to get to know the players that I’ve always seen on TV and heard about … to get to know them as people first was really nice.

“My main goal going into the SA camps and tours was just to gain as much experience as I possibly can and I believe I did. So I can just grow from there.”

As a young player, it is vital that you learn from the senior players around you. In the Proteas Women camp, they are blessed with having a young captain in Dane van Niekerk, who fully understands what it is like to be a youngster in a a predominantly senior side having made her debut at 16.

She now has turned that experience into becoming a role model for new youngsters who are breaking into the national setup.

Smith explained how Van Niekerk is a player that she admires.

“Dane is a very strong character. What I’ve noticed is that she’s very passionate about the game and she’s a role model in that sense. I really look up to her as a batter as well – she’s a fantastic batter. It just seems like while she’s batting that she’s at the driving range. She’s also an unbelievable leader.”

Smith’s goal is now to focus on her game for Western Province with the aim of making the Proteas national side again.

“I want to focus on provincial level. I feel that I have been letting it a little bit down, so I need to just pick it up a little bit,” she said.

“There’s also a lot for me in the SA [ranks] so once I get my base down, I’m sure I will get there again one day.”

She also paid homage to her WP coach, Claire Terblanche.

“Claire is an amazing coach because she understands… she has so much knowledge about the game because she has been in our situations before as a SA cricketer as well, so that experience and the knowledge that she gives is unbelievable and I’m really grateful to have her as my coach.”