Dane van Niekerk in the 2022 Women’s Super League
Images of Grant Pitcher/Gallo
- Dane van Niekerk will miss the T20 Women’s World Cup in South Africa from February 10-26.
- Van Niekerk did not meet the minimum fitness requirements to play for South Africa in next week’s World Cup.
- CSA coordinator of selectors Clinton du Preez admitted Van Niekerk would be missed, but insisted they had to be consistent with their fitness decisions.
The Proteas women will be without the experience of regular, multi-talented captain Dane van Niekerk ahead of next week’s Women’s T20 World Cup in South Africa.
Sune Luus will once again wear the captaincy bracelet for the first women’s World Cup on African soil.
Van Niekerk last played for South Africa in September 2021 after suffering a broken left ankle last January, ruling her out of the full year for the Proteas women.
She returned to competitive action last year in August in The Hundred and then participated in the CSA Women’s Super League for the Starlights in December.
Van Niekerk hit an unbeaten 50 from 47 balls, as well as capturing two for 13 against the SA Women’s Under-19 team at Newlands in December.
However, on Tuesday, Van Niekerk was the big talking point with her notable omission from the Proteas T20 World Cup women’s squad, with coordinator selectors Clinton du Preez confirming that she had failed a late fitness test.
“Dane was given ample opportunity to meet the minimum criteria for the fitness benchmark for World Cup eligibility. He recently took another fitness test and unfortunately did not meet the minimum criteria and, therefore, he could not participate in the team this year”. year,” Du Preez told reporters on Tuesday.
“Unfortunately, she didn’t meet the 2km minimum requirement; a similar decision was made for the Tri-Series. They’ve worked and helped her try to get there.”
READ | Proteas suffers Van Niekerk hit, Luus named skipper for T20 World Cup
Van Niekerk’s absence continues to be a blow to the Proteas, who have already lost recently retired Mignon du Preez and Lizelle Lee and the injured Trisha Chetty.
It’s been a long journey for Van Niekerk to regain his fitness and he missed the ongoing T20 Tri-Series in east London against India and the West Indies.
“Dane has been an integral part of the team. She hasn’t been in the team for a while. She was replaced by Sune Luus as leader. I think Dane’s skills as a cricketer will always be missed on the cricket ground.” Du Preez said.
“We had this conversation with her, we remind her widely and we also appreciate the hard work she’s put in trying to get to the fitness level.
“The team has played for a while without her. I think there’s a lot of responsibility on the players and the current leadership to take this forward and make sure they go out to the World Cup, represent and try to keep the team together.” “
Following the World Cup team announcement, Van Niekerk posted a message on social media to say she was “absolutely broken.”
Cricket SA have implemented very strict fitness measures, with Proteas seamer Sisanda Magala and Lee feeling the brunt of it and subsequently being ruled out of the national team. She prompted hard-hitting Lee to forego her international career as she now plies her trade as a T20 player.
South African fitness standards require female cricketers to run 2km in 9 minutes 30 seconds, and ESPNcricinfo reported that Van Niekerk ran a personal best in the test but topped by 18 seconds.
Du Preez insisted that Van Niekerk and all the Proteas players knew the necessary requirements to make the World Cup squad.
“It’s just about being consistent with our decisions. It’s not something that’s been mentioned recently. A lot of other players have gone down this path,” Du Preez said.
“We’ve had open conversations with everyone, and they’re pretty familiar with what’s required. In December, we had a conversation with Dane and we clearly laid out what he needs to do and where we expect him to be to recognize the improvement he’s made.
“I think as a team we want to set the benchmark with regards to fitness and therefore make sure that every player meets it. So I don’t think it’s something for Dane as a cricketer. I think we’re evaluating everyone fairly. And we want to be consistent in our decisions.”
Luus will lead the Proteas in the Tri-Series final on Thursday at Buffalo Park at 3:00 p.m.
The Proteas kick off their T20 World Cup campaign on Friday 10th February against Sri Lanka at Newlands.
Tickets are already on sale at TicketPro from R30, with all 23 matches being staged in Cape Town, Paarl and Gqeberha.
