The 2023 ICC Women’s U19 T20 World Cup provided a great opportunity for the growth of South African women cricketers, now SA U19 head coach Dinesha Devnarain explains the importance of investment in the women’s game.
Speaking at the CSA National Academy opening function at Centre of Excellence in Tshwane on Tuesday, 6 June, Devnarain highlighted that investment and programmes such as the National Academy will play a vital role in taking the women’s game further, especially from development level.
“Having a programme like this is investment for the future of South African women’s cricket. There’s also impact – and that’s impact from all levels like provincial, high-performance and Protea level and then we need influence. These three are highly important and if we have these three drivers it will take women’s cricket to the next level.
During the inaugural T20 World Cup campaign, which was held on home soil, the South African side lost one out of their five matches and ultimately fell short on a spot in the semi-final round due to their net run rate.
From the U19 World Cup squad, four players including Oluhle Siyo, Jenna Evans, Ayanda Hlubi, and Refilwe Moncho, feature in the academy.
“The group of players are very exciting because we have a mix of SA U19 players, we’ve got the ten high-performance players and we’ve got some really good provincial players in there so it’s a mix of different age groups, which is good,” Devnarain continued.
“What best characterizes them is that some of them have had the taste of national cricket and they are going to use a programme like this to try and cement a spot up top and for the SA U19 girls, their learning continues from where we left off from the World Cup.”
Speaking on the objectives, Devnarain concluded, saying: “The objectives of the camp are pretty simple, you want to leave the players in a better space, from a strength and conditioning point of view, technically, tactically, mentally and definitely from an analytical point of view, which is a segment that we are pushing hard in this national camp and I am looking forward to that.”
Photo 1 Caption: SA U19’s Oluhle Siyo (left) and Jenna Evans (right) pictured at the CSA National Academy’s capping ceremony at Centre of Excellence in Tshwane on Tuesday, 6 June 2023. Photo: gsport/Celine Abrahams
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