Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Women Proteas need more time to hit their straps
“WE will not let this game define us.”
These were Sune Luus’s words immediately after the crushing World Cup semi-final defeat to England.
I was livid. What kind of response was this? In my view the Proteas had been favourites heading into the semi-final.
They were the World’s No 2 ranked side, and had displayed this over the past month with a defeat to the juggernaut Australian team the only blemish on their report card.
Even England, the defending champions and the opposition on the day, had been seen off already. It was a crucial victory because it would have helped close off the pain endured after the Bristol semi-final defeat five years ago.
Furthermore, my belief was that this Proteas team was superior playerto-player than their English counterparts in 2022. The only advantage I believed England boasted was the brilliant Sophie Ecclestone in the spin department, especially with Dane van Niekerk ruled out of the tournament.
Therefore, the insipid performance the Proteas delivered, especially in the field where they uncharacteristically dropped six catches that knocked the wind out of their sails, belied their talent and ability.
I wanted to hear Luus speak frankly and state that her team did not pitch up at the races.
Perhaps it was the lack of sleep that was coming through due to covering the Proteas from 2am in the morning for the past month, but “we will not let this game define us” did not digest well.
But then I remembered former Proteas and current Bangladesh coach Russell Domingo’s famous quote after the epic 2015 World Cup semi-final defeat to New Zealand.
Even with a red-eyed AB de Villiers sitting alongside him, Domingo could raise his head above the gloomy clouds of defeat and chirp: “There’s no doubt this is disappointing, but the sun will still come up tomorrow and when I return home tonight my wife and kids will still love me. I hope!”
So, in the cold light of the next day, I listened with a different ear to Luus’s comments. And I now fully realise the context.
The Proteas undoubtedly let themselves down at Hagley Oval, but in reality this group of players have been over-achieving for the past five years.
There has been increased support from Cricket SA and primary benefactor Momentum since 2017, but it pales in comparison to the two finalists Australia and England.
The ECB committed R50 million for five years in 2019 to women’s cricket, which is a figure that can only be dreamt of in Mzansi.
England’s new Hundred competition was an unprecedented success and grew the popularity of women’s cricket among an entire new generation of girls.
Back home Luus and her teammates have no such exposure with limited competitions to unearth new talent.
Luus hopes this will change in the near future to grow the depth of the Proteas in order for them to launch another challenge in 2025.
“I think we’ve grown immensely. All the players stepped up at different times and it’s been amazing to see the growth in each and every player. It’s still not over. So I think it's very exciting to see what the future holds. And when we go back it's going to be amazing to regroup and start fresh and just take it from there,” she said.
“I think it starts from at provincial cricket. I think, something that needs to happen back home is our provincial structure needs to be stronger. We need more players coming into the system and competing at a higher level with our emerging team as well. So I think it all starts there.
“And then we can get some rebuilding phase, and just get stronger and stronger. I think, as we look at the world, everybody is creating leagues and everybody is playing around the world and I don't want South Africa to fall behind. It's going to take a huge effort for us to take a leap of faith and encourage sponsors to come on board and help the growth of women's cricket in South Africa. I think that's going to be very important when we get back home.”
Luus also highlighted the excellent performances of the Proteas during this World Cup as testimony to what can be achieved.
“I think it's been a brilliant World Cup for South Africa. I think we've had a lot of stand up performances, I think we've broken a lot of hearts in this tournament by winning crucial games that people might have thought - it was supposed to go the other way.
“I think for us, it's just getting over that line in crucial moments. I think that was amazing for our team to have that mental strength and just get us across the line every time. I think this was our best campaign at a World Cup yet. And I think that's something we can be extremely proud of. People moved up in ranks, I think that's extremely important for us and for players just to get them competing against the best in the world. Laura Wolvaardt is currently the No 1 batter in the world. We've got our three seamers in the top 10. I think there's a lot of positives we can take out of this World Cup and I think, you know, we can be extremely proud of the campaign we've had.”
New Zealand may not have been the moment the Proteas’ Women would scale their Everest, but they will certainly be stronger for it.