Protea’s Dane kicks it into high gear
Protea Women’s cricket captain Dane van Niekerk was the big winner at the Cricket South Africa annual awards ceremony in Pretoria earlier in August.
It was not lost on the adjudication panel that the Nelson Mandela Bay-based all-rounder had been out of action for nearly six months with a fracture of the right femur.
However, her performance prior to the injury setback was so impressive that they had little hesitation in honouring Dane not only as SA Women’s Cricketer of the Year, but also as the SA Women’s Players’ Player of the Year.
Since the start of June, Dane has been in phenomenal form both as a top order batter and with her trademark leg-spin, which makes her SA women cricket’s leading genuine allrounder.
Then she also has the added responsibility and pressure that comes with captaining the team.
The 26-year-old scored her maiden one-day international century, against Sri Lanka in Potchefstroom, and seven half centuries in 19 one-day and T20 internationals.
During this time, she also took 12 wickets, leaving her as the standout performer in the Protea women’s setup.
The Herald, in association with SPAR Eastern Cape, is proud to honour Dane van Niekerk as our homegrown hero of the month for August.
The Herald: Congratulations on the two big awards. Understandably, you were a bit surprised to receive them?
Dane: I did not have much expectation at the awards after being out for so long, although I still felt like I’d had a pretty good season before being sidelined by the stress fracture.
It was a bit more emotional than anything else to be called up like that after six months away from the game.
The Herald: The fact that you are playing T20 cricket in the UK at the moment is a good sign though, surely?
Dane: Yes, indeed.
I’ve played all the games so far, with no pain, so the stress fracture has definitely healed.
My recovery is going better than the cricket at the moment as we have not reached the knockout stages, but it’s all good as I’m just glad to be back playing.
The Herald: Your most memorable knock last season must have been that breakthrough hundred in Potch?
Dane: No question!
I’ve been playing for my country for 10 years, so to finally make an ODI hundred was incredibly special (in the process Dane also became only the fourth SA women’s cricketer to score 2,000 ODI runs).
In the form I was in at the time, I said to our coach, Hilton Moreeng, that I felt I was due and hopefully it will now be the first of many centuries for my team. The Herald: And your bowling is still important to you?
Dane: Most definitely.
I’m a huge fan of the art of leg-spin and I see it as a very important part of my cricketing makeup.
I regard myself as a leg-spinning all-rounder and I will continue to work hard on both my batting and bowling.
The Herald: Stress fractures are always a concern.
How are you feeling physically now that you’re playing again?
Dane: The return from injury has been OK and the body has felt good with no pain, so there are no issues there.
The bowling has gone really well, but the batting not so much.
My expectations were maybe a bit unrealistic that I could just pick up where I left off in the batting, but we know sport is not that simple.
Hopefully, with time in the middle, I can get back to that form.
The Herald: Are you happy for your teammates who picked up awards as well?
Dane: For sure – I was super excited for Marizanne Kapp to get ODI Player of the Year and Shabnim Ismail to be named T20 Player of the Year.
They had incredible seasons along with Tumi Sekhukhune as International Newcomer of the Year.
I don’t want to forget Lizelle Lee.
Even though she did not win anything, she had an incredible season with the bat and was exceptional in the field, so I am very proud of her as well.
The Herald: So what can we look forward to now in 2019/2020 from Dane van Niekerk?
Dane: Well, we have a big tour against India and New Zealand coming up and then the World Cup.
So, these are two massive tours for us to build some momentum and confidence ahead of the T20 World Cup in Australia in February and March 2020.
We are all dreaming of winning a World Cup after our near miss in the UK, so if we continue to work hard hopefully we can do that.