Cricket SA’s dilly-dallying has let the Proteas women down

Neither Laura Wolvaardt nor Hilton Moreeng deserved the tough enquiry they faced on the eve of the Proteas’s team’s departure for the tour to Pakistan. 

That is not the fault of the media — journalists were merely doing their jobs. Just as they were when telling the stories of the national women’s team’s run to the semifinal of the T20 World Cup earlier this year. In the weeks after that tournament the future looked bright; the players were on TV, they were hosted at breakfasts and dinners, they got money from the government. 

Promises were made, with the outcome of that tournament widely viewed as providing the perfect launch pad from which the Proteas would soar. 

Six months later and the Proteas have an interim captain and an interim coach. In the case of the latter, Moreeng’s temporary appointment until the end of December, comes after his last contract expired in June. 

The organisation seemed happy enough to bask in the reflected glory of the players in the weeks after the World Cup, but in the six months between that tournament and the Pakistan tour, the plans that should have been put in place have failed to materialise. CSA has dropped the ball as far as the national women’s team is concerned, failing to use the momentum generated by the World Cup. 

Instead of more clarity about the team’s long term outlook, CSA, Wolvaardt and Moreeng are dealing with questions about divisions in the team, a letter signed by players who are not happy with Moreeng’s continued role as coach and whether Wolvaardt even wanted to be captain after her close friend Sune Luus asked to stand down from the job.

On the latter Wolvaardt was emphatic. At no stage after being offered the captaincy did she say “no”, to the role. She agreed to it on an interim basis to assess how it might affect her game. 

Meanwhile, the team is in transition, perhaps one that has been lengthened because CSA didn’t make changes to the coaching staff. Shabnim Ismail, who retired from the international game after the World Cup provided a blunt evaluation of the team environment when asked if she would consider a coaching role. 

“In terms of CSA, for now, after retirement, while I’d love to help, I also want to clear my mind,” Ismail said after being named Women’s Player of the Year for the third time in July.

“I want to get away, get complete downtime from Cricket SA, which is sad. I don’t want to just jump back in with CSA at the moment, where I’m still seeing the same faces over and over.” 

Director of Cricket, Enoch Nkwe, who has oversight of all national teams, said after of the World Cup it was logistically difficult to properly plan for the Proteas women’s future. Despite the lengthy amount of time seemingly available, Nkwe said with so many players dotted around the world in different leagues it was a challenge to gain their perspectives about the way forward.

He has nevertheless held one-on-one meetings with all of them and would no doubt have been made aware of their concerns, especially about the need for a new voice in the dressing room.

None of the players are critical of Moreeng as a person, they all agree he is a good man. But having had 11 years in the job, it is perfectly understandable that as elite athletes — many of whom have been exposed to different coaching methods in franchise leagues around the world — they would want to hear a new voice. 

Though his contract expired in June, CSA waited until last week to advertise the head coaching post. That new person will take up the position in January and have just weeks to prepare the team for the toughest assignment in the women’s game — a tour to Australia, which will also encompass a Test match. 

That isn’t fair on that coach or the players. 

Nkwe has adopted short-term and long-term perspectives for the Proteas. The first involves the period until December, that includes the Pakistan tour and then home series against New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. 

The long-term perspective involves the two World Cups; next year’s T20 tournament in Bangladesh and then the 50-over competition in India in 2025. And while it seems a waste to have two outlooks given how so much time has passed this year already, he and CSA must hope that the new set of plans work and creates clarity for the team. CSA has wasted enough time already.