On Monday, Cricket South Africa announced a 15-player Proteas women squad for the whiteball leg of the multi-format tour to Australia, a tour that will run from January 27 to February 18.
A quick glance at the 15-player squad, one omission stands out and that is the omission of top-order batter, Lara Goodall.
The 27-year-old has been dropped from the whiteball teams following a poor run of form during the tour to Pakistan at the beginning of the season, and here at home in South Africa when New Zealand and Bangladesh visited SA shores.
Having returned an average of 13 in nine innings in the green and gold, and with the likes of Eliz-Mari Marx on the come-up in the Proteas women team, Goodall has evidently lost her place in the side and will miss the tour to Australia.
Tumi Sekhukhune and Annerie Dercksen omissions
Tumi Sekhukhune and Annerie Dercksen will also miss the white-ball leg of the tour to Australia having been omitted from the touring squad.
As a set of senior players exit, a couple of youngsters break into the team.
The 19-year-old fast bowler Ayanda Hlubi, having debuted in Kimberly during the T20I series against Bangladesh Women, has earned a maiden ODI call-up and will tour with the Laura Wolvaardt-led team.
Hlubi will have not only Wolvaardt’s experience to guide her down under, but will also have the vastly experienced Marizanne Kapp and Chloe Tryon to show her the ropes.
“It is a mixture of youngsters and experience, and everyone is looking forward to it,” said Hilton Mooreng, Proteas women head coach whose contract has been extended until the end of the 2023/24 season.
Proteas women are bracing to face off against their most testing opponent in international cricket having never won a single game against Australia women in 22 encounters.
In 15 ODIs, Proteas women have managed only a tie and 14 defeats while they have been beaten all seven times they have faced Australia in T20Is.
However, having had a successful 2023 when they reached South Africa’s first World Cup final in February, there is a glimmer of hope that the team will return with positive results.
Plenty prep
Moreover, the side has been in a training camp since January 6, preparing to take on the World Champions, Australia.
“It was a very good year for us as a team in 2023, so we look forward to building on that. We finished off well with the tour against Bangladesh and the camp was very good. The weather is not something we can control but we got what we wanted out of it, such as the education around the game, touching base regarding the red ball, and what we want to achieve,” said Mooreng.
“We also touched on our skills regarding the white ball, where we are going, and what is required, so the selected squad is very well-balanced and competitive, and we are very confident going into Australia.”
The Test squad will be announced during the ODI series and before the commencement of the first-ever Test match between the two teams.
The Proteas Women will depart for Australia in two groups from Wednesday and Thursday ahead of the team’s first training session in Sydney on Sunday.