Coaching Proteas Women ‘has been really good for me’, says Mashimbyi

Mandla Mashimbyi has been pretty blunt about his expectations for the South African women’s cricket team, but at the same time he’s also found a deep satisfaction in his job. 

It’s been nine months since Mashimbyi took over as the Proteas team head coach. “An unbelievable journey, it’s been fulfilling,” said the 44-year-old. 

It was a tricky period for the women’s side. Short of winning an ICC title, there’d been so much growth, from finishing as runners-up in consecutive T20 World Cups to taking more steps into the Test arena and qualifying automatically for this year’s ODI World Cup. 

But it has hardly been smooth sailing. The controversy over what to do with Mashimbyi’s predecessor, Hilton Moreeng, the extended “interim” period for Dillon du Preez and helping Laura Wolvaardt grow as captain for a team in transition created a murky background at the time Mashimbyi was appointed. 

But he has provided clarity for the players, helped perhaps by having a World Cup on the horizon so soon.

“After a long time, I feel like I am a coach,” said Mashimbyi, who worked for the Northerns Titans as an assistant and then head coach for more than a decade. 

“When you’re in the men’s space, you manage people and egos, whereas here you’re managing emotions, people, but also you coach them. I’m loving every moment of it. This is not in the absence of things not going well or going well, but when you enjoy doing something it doesn’t matter what the obstacles are, you keep moving. It’s been really good for me.”

Mashimbyi has placed special emphasis on the intensity he wants the players to show — in training and to the opposition. When he was first appointed, he described that element as “non-negotiable”.

After nine months in charge, how does he feel about the intensity the players have shown?

“I wish you could have been at those camps and seen what intensity looks like — especially this last one in Durban,” he said on Wednesday.

“There was great demand from our players to bring it on. Intensity is something that you can demand as a coach, but it can be expressed differently by the players.

“Given what I've asked previously, when they came for this camp, it was actually easy for them. They practised for six hours a day over five days ... That is part of us building the blocks in terms of intensity.

“When we get to the World Cup, these are things we don’t want to talk about — it’s things we want to see. I commend them for that, because they have responded really well to my demands as a coach.”

Mashimbyi will take a well-rounded squad to the World Cup. Ten players were part of the group that qualified for the semifinals in the 2022 tournament, while youngsters like Annerie Dercksen, Karabo Meso and even travelling reserve Miané Smit have all been given room to develop.

Dercksen has been a revelation this year, making a century and two half-centuries on the Proteas tour to Sri Lanka in May. Under Mashimbyi, she has made herself undroppable. 

“She is very coachable, she absorbs a lot of information. The tour in Sri Lanka this year was probably life-changing for her — she was our ‘A’ batter in that series.”

The 24-year-old’s rise has helped to ease some of the workload on the great Marizanne Kapp, though Mashimbyi feels Kapp will still have a big influence on South Africa’s campaign in India. 

The 35-year old has struggled with health and fitness over the last five years, and in what may be oppressive conditions on the subcontinent — coupled with a heavy schedule of seven round-robin matches, followed possibly by two playoff games — the Proteas are aware they must manage Kapp carefully.

“The best that we can get from her, whenever she can give it, we will take it. We need to understand where she is with her game. She is the oldest member of the team, she plays a lot of cricket and we need to manage that. But she also understands that the most important thing is this World Cup. She will give it her all,” said Mashimbyi. 

The fact that Dercksen has come to the fore is also indicative of what Mashimbyi describes as the second important part of his job (along with winning a World Cup): strengthening the women's game in the country. 

“We have to make sure we create depth in the structure and make sure women’s cricket in South Africa becomes a force, which ultimately means we will be a force in world cricket as well.”