Photo Credit: Anthony Churchyard Photography / Cricket South Africa
2023 young cricketers coached by South Africa’s best cricketers
Proteas and UNICEF celebrate World Children’s Day with focus on the girl child
The Proteas players turned it up to inspire the next generation of cricketers as the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup fever continues to spread across the country.
Dane van Niekerk, Tumi Sekhukhume, Sune Luus and Raisibe Ntozakhe gave a cricketing masterclass to girls and boys from surrounding areas of Johannesburg, with the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Trophy making an anticipated appearance to much fanfare and excitement.
The young cricketers experienced a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to learn from the country’s leading women’s cricketers, with passion and excitement for the game taking center stage.
“It’s special to be preparing to take part in a World Cup at home, seeing how excited the next generation is really motivates us to make South Africa proud,” Proteas captain, Dane van Niekerk said. “We know that we inspire so many young girls and boys who are interested in cricket and we hope the two World Cups coming to South Africa will pave the way for women’s cricket in the country. We want more girls playing cricket and we want to put in performances that can create that spark in many rising cricketers.”
It is the ‘Year of Women’ for cricket in South Africa, with the country preparing to host the inaugural ICC U19 Women’s T20 World Cup and the Women’s T20 World Cup for the first time in history in January and February 2023.
Richard Beighton, UNICEF Partnership Manager, hopes the girl child will be impacted through the two events: “The two global showpieces are committed towards increasing women and girls’ participation and access to the sport, a goal aligned to UNICEF’s 2022 World Children’s Day theme of ‘Inclusion, for every child’. UNICEF will play an important role throughout the World Cups to advocate for the ‘girl child’ through the power of sport.”
South Africa will play their opening match of the Women’s T20 World Cup against Sri Lanka at Newlands Cricket Ground on 10 February. Tickets for the competition will start from R60, giving as many fans as possible an opportunity to watch the best cricketers in action from 10-26 February at the three venues in Cape Town, Paarl and Gqeberha.
Proteas all-rounder, Tumi Sekhukhune, says the squad is preparing to turn it up for all South Africans.
“We have been preparing really hard as a squad over the past few months and are looking forward to playing in a World Cup at home for the first time,” she said. “Yes, there will be pressure and expectation, but this is the ultimate prize in T20 cricket, we want nothing more than to turn it up and prove our skill and talent, we want to make our country proud.”
Fans are encouraged to turn it up in support of the event and their favourite teams and players, who will be in action in 23 matches over 15 days. Tickets across the three venues – Newlands, Boland Park and St George’s Park – are available for purchase at ticket offices at the stadia and online on https://womens.t20worldcup.com/tickets.
Entry for the U19 Women’s T20 World Cup is free with matches taking place in Benoni and Potchefstroom from 14 – 29 January 2023.
For the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup match schedule details please click here.
Name of Author: Cricket South Africa
Cricket South Africa (CSA) governs cricket in South Africa. Formed in 2002, it succeeded the United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCB) and became the sole governing body in 2008. CSA oversees all levels of cricket, including national teams for men and women, and is a full ICC member and SASCOC affiliate.
