Hilton Moreeng happy to see Proteas Women's captain Dane’ van Niekerk performing at The Hundred

Oval Invincibles' Dane van Niekerk hits a 4 during the inaugural match of the new cricket format, The Hundred played between the Oval Invincibles and the Manchester Originals women's cricket teams at The Oval in south London on July 21, 2021. (Photo by Ian KINGTON / AFP)

Oval Invincibles' Dane van Niekerk hits a 4 during the inaugural match of the new cricket format, The Hundred played between the Oval Invincibles and the Manchester Originals women's cricket teams at The Oval in south London on July 21, 2021. (Photo by Ian KINGTON / AFP)

Published Aug 5, 2021

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CAPE TOWN - Proteas Women's captain Dane van Niekerk has confirmed her status as one of the premier match-winners in The Hundred competition in England.

Van Niekerk produced another brilliant all-round performance on Wednesday evening to propel the Oval Invincibles to their third victory of the tournament to keep her team in contention for the playoffs.

The South African skipper masterminded the run-chase with an undefeated 67 off 51 balls (8x4, 1x6) after earlier claiming 2/16 from her 20 balls to restrict the Birmingham Phoenix to 129/9.

Van Niekerk is now placed second on the overall run-scoring charts behind Northern SuperChargers' Indian star Jemimah Rodrigues. She is also in the top 10 wicket-takers and lowest economy rate list.

This all bodes well for the Proteas Women's team ahead of their proposed tour to the West Indies later this month. The Hundred is Van Niekerk's first competitive action since sustaining a lower back injury sustained in September last year.

"Dane has shown her quality again. The player that she is. How she leads the team and what she does under pressure," Proteas Women's captain Hilton Moreeng said.

"We know the quality we have in her. The injuries have just been frustrating for both player and country, so we just happy she is playing again. With the time that she's been away from the game, this opportunity to play cricket again it is valuable for the country going forward.

"So as soon as we can start touring again, we know we will have her available again, so it is a blessing for us as a country."

Van Niekerk is a part of five-women South African contingent competing The Hundred. Fellow Proteas Marizanne Kapp, Shabnim Ismail, Laura Wolvaardt and Lizelle Lee complete the list.

The rest of the Proteas Women's squad were put their paces last week at CSA's High Performance Centre by Moreeng and the rest of his support staff with strength and conditioning coach Zane Webster playing a very active role in the preparation.

@ZaahierAdams

IOL Sport

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