SA emerging women’s tour of Zimbabwe to begin on May 18

Pretoria [South Africa] (ANI): Cricket South Africa (CSA) has announced a 16-player emerging women squad to tour Zimbabwe from May 18-26, for a five-match ODI series.

According to CSA, the squad is made up of South Africa’s best emerging players, backed up by a few of the Proteas players. The side under the tutelage of coach Dinesha Devnarain will be looking for a much better showing following their tour to Bangladesh a month ago.

The squad will come together at the Powerade National Centre of Excellence in Pretoria on Saturday before flying to Bulawayo where they will play five one-day fixtures against the Zimbabwe Women side.

“We are really pleased with the talent we’ve been able to assemble for this tour and the players have benefitted from the insights of our management team – including some players who were in their position only a short time ago,” Devnarain said in an official statement.

“Our goal is to continue to work with this group of ladies with more face-to-face sessions scheduled and also raise the performance level against a competent Zimbabwe Women side. We’ve had enough time to reflect on our tour of Bangladesh and many in the squad will be looking to improve massively on that performance.”North West Dragons duo of Tazmin Brits and Masabata Klaas make a return to the national set-up following spells out due to family commitments and injury respectively. Momentum Proteas members Nondumiso Shangase, Nonkululeko Mlaba as well as all-rounder Anneke Bosch are among those named in the squad.

Speaking following the selection of the side, Cricket SA high-performance manager Vincent Barnes said a strong summer from some of the players helped their elevation to the national emerging team.

“The players that have been recruited in this squad were all standouts across the summer, with some really impressive performances for their provincial sides,” Barnes said.

SA Emerging Women Squad: Andrie Steyn (Western Province), Tazmin Brits (North West), Robyn Searle (Northerns), Nondumiso Shangase (KZN Coastal), Anneke Bosch (North West), Sinalo Jafta (Western Province), Leah Jones (Western Province), Micaela Andrews (South West Districts), Masabata Klaas (North West), Nonkululeko Mlaba (KZN Coastal), Jane Winster (South West Districts), Nobulumko Baneti (Border), Annerie Dercksen (Free State), Tebogo Macheke (Limpopo), Delmari Tucker (Western Province), Jade de Figueredo (KZN Coastal) (ANI)