New Proteas Women’s captain vows to be ‘feisty’
New Proteas captain Dane van Niekerk hopes to bring an aggressive style of play to the team.
|||Johannesburg – Fresh off winning the Momentum Women’s cricketer of the year at the Cricket SA awards this week, new Proteas captain Dane van Niekerk hopes to bring an aggressive style of play to the team.
The Proteas Women left on Wednesday for Ireland, where they will begin a two-match T20 International series against the hosts starting on Monday followed by four One Day Internationals.
Van Niekerk, 23, took over the captaincy from Mignon du Preez who stepped down from the role after taking charge of the Proteas for five years.
“I wanted to build on what Mignon created. She created a really healthy environment for our team,” said Van Niekerk.
“I also want to bring a little bit of feistiness – I’m a feisty cricketer on the field. So hopefully that will give us a little bit more aggressiveness.”
Du Preez led South Africa to victory in 24 of her 46 ODIs in charge and won 24 of 50 T20Is in her time at the helm. Van Niekerk said she was inspired to try and emulate the success of her former captain.
“I do have a few leadership skills, but it’s just getting used to all the formalities. Hopefully, I can lead from the front like Mignon did, she did that brilliantly. I would just be grateful if I can do half the job she did.”
The vital cog of the Proteas lineup, Van Niekerk has taken 81 wickets in 56 ODIs at an outstanding average of 17. She also boasts similarly remarkable figures in 57 T20Is with 47 scalps at 18.72 per wicket. With the bat, Van Niekerk has scored two ODI 50s, and five T20I half-centuries.
Van Niekerk, who considers herself a bowling allrounder, earned her place in the team with prodigious leg-spin. Recently, Van Niekerk has been promoted up the order in T20 cricket to open the batting – a role she said suited her attacking approach with the willow.
“I’m loving the fact that I can be a bit more aggressive up front, it suits the type of cricketer I am. Hopefully, the coaches will have the confidence in me to keep batting me up at the top. I’ve been fairly successful, but I’d like to be a bit more consistent.”
Whether it is with the bat or ball, Van Niekerk hoped she could make a contribution wherever needed.
“I’ve always prided myself on bowling well. I feel like leg-spin is a really difficult art, not to perfect, but to be successful. I see myself as a bowling allrounder, and not a batting allrounder. I would just like to contribute as much as possible. When the chips are down I always stick up my hand, take the ball and try and change the game.”
With the growth of the women’s game both in South Africa and internationally in recent years, Van Niekerk was optimistic about the future for her team.
“We usually have to punt our sponsors, but we do it out of free will because the relationship we have with Momentum is incredible. The fact that they’ve come on board, and we’ve shown such immense improvement.
“Momentum together with Cricket SA have been a formidable team as they’ve thrust women’s cricket more into the limelight. We are constantly improving, and that’s what we want. I see great things for our team, and hopefully, we can prove that in the games to come and the World Cup next year.” – African News Agency (ANA)