THE 14-strong Momentum Proteas women’s squad, that will compete in the ICC Women’s World Twenty20 later this month, were the guest of honour at a send-off event held at sponsor Momentum’s head office in Centurion on Friday March 14.
The ICC Women’s World Twenty20 is being played in Bangladesh from March 16 to April 2.
The sponsors also took the opportunity to honour some of the team and selected past players with commemorative Momentum Friendship Jackets, to acknowledge representation at national level and in recognition of their individual contribution to the development of the game.
The team go into the championship with renewed confidence following recent strong showings against international teams.
Charlene Lackay, Head of External Communications at Momentum, said, “We are very proud of the Momentum Proteas and hope the nation gets behind them as we have, and especially for this World Cup. We have seen fantastic effort from the players and their continued commitment is showing results. Momentum is pleased that we were able to contribute to the appointment of full-time national coach Hilton Moreeng, who is helping produce these results. “
Coach Hilton Moreeng said, “The pool of talent in the team is more than enough to stand up against these teams, but going to a World Cup we need to focus on team cohesion and getting the combinations right. Rainy weather conditions in the run-up have hampered our on-field training, but hopefully the added time spent on conditioning and fitness and in the nets will be of some benefit.”
Captain Mignon du Preez said, “It’s definitely going to be a tough competition for us and we won’t be taking anything or any team for granted. Having played and lost to Pakistan in the final of the T20 series in Qatar, we know how dangerous they can be. Australia and New Zealand are in the top four countries in the world, we will always adopt the wary approach when playing them. Wary but not intimidated.”
The Momentum Proteas have the full backing of CSA. CSA Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat extended his best wishes to the Momentum Proteas. “The team has made big strides in appreciating the standard of competition needed at international level. We want them to become a competitive force in world cricket.
“The development of women’s cricket has not been limited to events on the playing field either. Extending one of our major commercial partners, Momentum, as the dedicated sponsor for women’s cricket, has been fantastic. This sponsorship symbolises an important advancement for women’s sport in our country as it has allowed us to centrally contract our coach and national women’s players.”
Momentum Proteas ICC Women’s World Twenty20 team: Mignon Du Preez – captain, Trisha Chetty vice-captain,
Chloe Tryon
Dané Van Niekerk
Lizelle Lee
Marcia MatshipiLetsoalo
MarizanneKapp
Moseline Daniels
Nadine Moodley
Shabnim Ismail
Shandre Fritz
Suné Luus
SunetteLoubser
Yolandi van der Westhuizen
