Time for Proteas to turn to the next generation

Cricket South Africa hosts its annual player awards ceremony next week, and following two World Cups in 2026, there won’t be any trophy to show off — again.

Twin defeats in the respective semifinals of the men’s and women’s tournaments can be viewed as a backward step for the senior national teams. Both had played in the respective final of the previous ICC T20 tournaments.

For the women’s team in particular the three weeks in England was deeply disappointing. Hopes were understandably high this year. They’d made it to the final of the previous two T20 World Cups. In the first in 2023, on home soil, they were overwhelmed by the occasion — and a magnificent Australian team.

In Dubai the following year, they didn’t come down quickly enough from the high of beating Australia in the semifinal (a first World Cup win for South Africa against that team) and were left dizzy when New Zealand landed the first punch in the final.

But in England they never found their best form. Every performance felt like hard work and even when winning looked easy, they made it difficult for themselves.

Interestingly ahead of this year’s campaign, the selection of a squad that leaned heavily on experience, going so far as to recall Shabnim Ismail and Dane van Niekerk, who’d retired from the international game, was seen as being the boost to overcome the final hurdle.

Ismail’s call-up worked. She filled a hole South Africa haven’t been able to fill since her retirement in 2023 — high pace, aggression and incisiveness with the new ball in the power play. Questions have correctly been asked of the development structures that have not been able to pop out a 120km/h quick bowler, but as the rest of the world has shown, those are rare.

South Africa’s bowling generally performed well in the World Cup, but it is an elderly group. Marizanne Kapp turns 37 next January, Ismail will be 38 in October and Ayabonga Khaka celebrates her 34th birthday next week.

They can’t be relied upon to still be present in two years when the next T20 tournament rolls around — even though, as she proved again, Kapp remains one of the sport’s elite players.

The women’s cricket structure at provincial level is still new and needs time to bed-in to not just unearth young talent and give those players an opportunity on a week-by-week basis, but also to create coaching expertise.

England and Australia have long-established structures, and even in those respective countries, it took many years before the requisite finances were directed towards female players. But the benefit of those deeper programmes were seen in the last few weeks, especially in the Australian side.

Sophie Molineux’s group came into the tournament with many wondering if Australia, not having made it to the final of the last two ICC events, was a sign their dominance was waning. They showed that was emphatically not the case. The margins of victories over the course of the competition instead illustrated they actually still have a gap over the rest.

Their senior contingent — Beth Mooney, Ash Gardner and the ageless Ellyse Perry — continue to produce performances of a staggeringly high level. But where they differ from a team like South Africa is their younger group — Georgia Voll, Lucy Hamilton and the electrifying Phoebe Litchfield — thrive under the spotlight.

The Proteas backed off giving Kayla Reyneke more match time and in hindsight that was perhaps a mistake. Karabo Meso is another who needs more time in the middle over the next few years, even if she plays in the same starting team as Sinalo Jafta, whose wicket-keeping was good in England.

The Proteas have tried to transition from the previous era in-between tournaments with the likes of Miané Smit, Reyneke, Meso and Seshnie Naidu, being given more game time, and that is a policy that needs to be continued.

In addition, the lower standard of provincial cricket means CSA needs to invest extra in the Emerging Squad programme, giving the next generation opportunities to tour and just play more.

Though there is a gap until the next T20 World Cup, the Proteas have a very busy home summer coming up. India’s women tour in December playing three ODIs and a Test, followed by Australia in March 2027 for three T20Is, three ODIs and a one-off Test.

Even more than a World Cup, those kinds of series will test the depth of the women’s game locally.

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