The Proteas women’s national cricket team is in Gqeberha this week as they intensify their training ahead of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup next year. South Africa will be the host nation for this eighth edition of the World Cup and the ladies are using the time they have left to prepare, and test themselves on certain pitches across the country.
The Proteas are set to face Australia at the famous St George’s pitch situated in the Windy City. The coach of the team, Hilton Moreeng says that they have tried out combinations during their intra-squad practice matches.
“What has been exciting is our youngsters coming in, especially our under 19’s so we could expose and incorporate them into the group. They have adapted well to my surprise, they kept up with the intensity which is good. It will help them in the long run. Yes overall, the last three days have been good for our prep especially now that we are coming to a world cup venue where we can train and prepare and for most of our inland girls to train in these coastal conditions,” explains Moreeng.
The 21-women squad is currently at camp without some of their more senior and key players due to injury, or international commitments. Opening batswoman Lara Goodall says this has given a lot of the other players a chance to step up.
“With them not being here it’s just one of those things, it’s out of our control so the other players in the squad as much as they are gone, and we kind of just have to step into the big shoes. And it is big shoes to fill I must be honest. But we have to do what we can to help the youngsters because if they were here they would’ve done that. It’s just about continuity and passing on the knowledge that we got from them to the next generation,” says Goodall.
The squad will have another camp in East London next month.
