South Africa head coach Mandla Mashimbyi has confirmed that Dane van Niekerk is not part of the World Cup plans, despite coming out of retirement and will only be considered for future series.
The 32-year-old may not play at another Cricket World Cup after missing out 2022 edition, as she recovered from a broken ankle.
She has appeared in three editions and led South Africa in 2017, where they suffered a semi-final defeat to England.
She also played in seven T20 World Cups but did not feature in the home event in 2023, after failing to meet Cricket South Africa’s (CSA) fitness requirements.
However, she revoked her retirement to play in the World Cup 2025. Dane van Niekerk has comed back to domestic competition, u-turned on her international retirement and was called up to a 20-player squad for the camp in Durban ahead of South Africa’s World Cup squad selection.
But her name will not be among the final fifteen that will be announced next week.
“She’s just part of the bigger or broader base of players that we’re trying to bring into our environment,” Mashimbyi said. “She’s definitely not part of this World Cup. She’s not going.”
Dane Niekerk bought into a squad specifically put together, ‘in preparation for the upcoming pakistan tour and ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025 held in India and Sri Lanka.
“We wanted to bring her in and actually expose her to the environment so that she can understand what the expectations are,” Mashimbyi said.
“Hopefully she can carry on from here onwards and really understand how she wants to go about things. And then one day when she gets a call up, you know, she can come in and have an impact immediately.”
CSA leaves selection to the coach and convener’s discretion but there is still an implicit understanding that fitness standards need to be at a high level and van Niekerk knows it.
“I know I’m probably not where everyone’s at at the moment. I understand where I need to be for the team. It’s going to be a lot of hard work, but I definitely wouldn’t have gone through all of this if I’m not willing to put that in,” she said.
“This is almost a baseline for me to really gauge where I’m at when it comes to the physical side, when it comes to the skill side, and all those things. Hopefully, I can have a clearer view after this camp. I’d know with the conversations we’ve had where I need to be in the next few months.”
South Africa women will play their first match of the World Cup against England Women on October 03 at Barsapara Stadium, Guwahati.
