Africa-Press – South-Africa. Proteas all-rounder Sune Luus respects the much-anticipated return of regular captain Dane van Niekerk ahead of the T20 Women’s World Cup in South Africa.
Luus took over as captain after Van Niekerk’s freak injury earlier this year.
Van Niekerk sustained a left ankle fracture in January, which saw her miss the entire Proteas women’s calendar year, including the Women’s Cricket World Cup in New Zealand.
During her absence, Luus had to shoulder most of the responsibility, which included the shocking retirement of Lizelle Lee and a poor showing in England.
In August, Van Niekerk returned to action for the Oval Invincibles at the Hundred, playing only three games in the women’s competition.
Van Niekerk has participated in numerous camps and got some much-needed game time with the South Africa Emerging side.
Luus told News24 Sport at the T20 Women’s World Cup launch on Monday that she understood that Van Niekerk would return as captain for next year’s T20 World Cup.
“Dane is still our full-time skipper, she’ll come back for the World Cup and that’s still her job and I’ll support her and the coaching staff’s decision with that,” said Luus.
“When the time is right and the management staff want me as Proteas captain, I’ll step in. But for now, she’s still the skipper and I’ll respect that.”
Luus says Proteas will gain confidence in hosting T20 Women’s World Cup
Hilton Moreeng’s side started the year in strong fashion, beating the West Indies 2-1 in an ODI series. They then suffered only two defeats at the Women’s Cricket World Cup in New Zealand – bowing out in the semi-finals after losing to England.
After a three-month break, the Proteas women were back in action when they toured Ireland. There they clinched the T20 series 2-1 and ODI series 3-0.
However, South Africa then went winless on their tour of England and could not get out of the group stages at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
“It was obviously a tough tour for us, we took a lot out of it as a squad. For the players and myself, you can only take what happened and move forward from it and try and be better,” said Luus.
“It didn’t go the way that we planned, but at the end of the day, we look back at experiences like that and we know it will only make us stronger. For us, we saw the standard of where England is at and where everyone was at the Commonwealth and where cricket is going.
“Individually, when we go back to our provinces, we know what we need to improve and be on that level.”
South Africa’s next assignment will be in January when they take on India and the West Indies in a T20I tri-series at home, which will be their final World Cup preparation.
The T20 Women’s World Cup will be held for the first time on African soil from 10-26 February 2023.
The Proteas open the tournament on 10 February 2023 against Sri Lanka at Newlands and are in Group 1 alongside Sri Lanka, Australia, New Zealand and Bangladesh.
“We would love to have games every week as a team, but that’s not possible. Hopefully, with the camps and provincial games coming up, the girls get as much from it as they can,” said Luus.
“We also have the Super League in December and take out as much as we can from it heading into the T20 World Cup.
“I think it went quite well. Hopefully, I can take some runs and wickets and build up the confidence heading into the World Cup.”
SA fans can now buy tickets for all 23 matches of the T20 World Cup.
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