SA women’s cricket: Another step forward

While the national men’s cricket team has faced widespread criticism for its recent decline, and Cricket South Africa’s administrators are under fire for alleged mismanagement, the SA women’s team have been quietly preparing to take on the global elite.

On Sunday they will open their campaign at the T20 Women’s World Cup in Australia when they play their opening group match against England.

And while they may not be among the favourites for the title, ranked sixth in the world in the short format, the national women’s side have come a long way in a relatively short period of time.

Though South Africa received full status from the International Cricket Council in 1909, the sport at the time was considered to be the exclusive domain of men.

Throughout the first half of the 20th century there were handicap games played between women and men, with men usually playing left-handed in an attempt to even the playing field in what were nothing more exhibition matches.

While women’s clubs existed as early as the 1920s, it wasn’t until 1952 that the South African and Rhodesian Women’s Cricket Association was formed to govern the game at domestic level.

As such, it wasn’t until 1960 that the national women’s team played their first Test match, and while they put up a fight against a touring England side, they narrowly lost 1-0 in a four-match series which included two draws and one fixture with no result.

Despite not really featuring in the sport for decades after the SA men’s side began contesting international Test series, the national women’s team were among the pioneers of the women’s game, with South Africa becoming only the fourth country (after Australia, England and New Zealand) to play at Test level.

In other formats, however, it was still some time before local women got their chance to compete on the global stage.

Shabnim Ismail. (Photo by Isuru Sameera Peiris/Gallo Images)

While South Africa returned from isolation six years earlier, the national women’s team would have to wait until 1997 to contest their first one-day international (ODI).

Making a spectacular start in the 50-over format, they handed Ireland a 3-0 thumping in their first ODI series.

Their inexperience was nonetheless made evident later in their tour when they were beaten 2-1 in a series against England.

Later that year, they did well to reach the quarter-finals of their maiden Women’s World Cup tournament, before being knocked out by hosts India in a five-wicket defeat.

Unlike the delays they had faced in longer forms of the game, the SA women’s side were well established by the time the shortest format was introduced, and they were able to hit the ground running when they played their first T20 International in 2007.

Though other countries had a head start, SA women have managed to cement themselves in the history books in recent years.

Mignon du Preez is one of only 14 women to have scored more than 3 000 ODI runs, while Shabnim Ismail is the 10th highest wicket taker in the format with 113 scalps.

Mignon du Preez. (Photo by Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)

In the T20 format, SA women’s captain Dane van Niekerk is one of 13 players to have scored more than 1 700 runs, while Ismail is the third highest wicket taker after removing 94 opponents from the crease.

Despite their spotted history, with the wheels taking decades to turn in an attempt to launch the women’s game, the SA ladies’ side has also produced solid results at major championships.

While they have not earned a major medal, with limited financial support in comparison to the SA men’s side, they reached the Women’s World Cup semifinals in 2000 and 2017, and they progressed to the T20 Women’s World Cup semifinals in 2014.

Now, with another chance to prove just how much they have progressed since being given sufficient opportunities to prove their worth, the national squad is eager to shine by putting up a fight at the latest edition of the T20 Women’s World Cup.

And Van Niekerk hopes their results will be able to inspire young women back home.

“No (South African) women’s team has won a World Cup before and we are hoping that as a team we can unite the country in our own way, especially considering the challenges we face as women in South Africa,” Van Niekerk said before they departed for Australia earlier this month.

“We are aiming to go out there and do something special for our country.”

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