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Having U-19 and senior players to train together is massive: Dinesha Devnarain

Women's CricZone Staff

30 Sep 2020

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Massive stepping stone for me: Dinesha Devnarain — Dinesha Devnarain. © Getty Images

The South Africa national women's team and the under-19 team are participating in the training camp organised by Cricket South Africa at Potchefstroom. The players will be focusing predominantly on physical conditioning in the five-day camp that began on Monday (September 28).

Dinesha Devnarain, who was appointed as South Africa Under-19 and Women’s National Academy dual head coach, said that she is grateful that the girls could all come out to this camp, especially with everything that has been going on around us these last few months.

“I think it’s massive to have the Under-19 girls mixed with the senior players. There’s so much that they can learn both on the field and off it, just in terms of cricket etiquette and just the way we go about things. So I’m really happy in that sense," she said.

This camp, the third one organised by Cricket South Africa for the women ever since the pandemic broke out, would be including high performance and national academy players, where the players are working their way back to full fitness and match sharpness.

However, few players including Dane van Niekerk, Shabnim Ismail, Marizanne Kapp, Laura Wolvaardt, Nadine de Klerk, Lizelle Lee, Mignon du Preez and Chloe Tryo are not a part of the camp as they would be participating in the Women's Big Bash League(WBBL).

ALSO READ: Charting a ‘different path’ for South Africa – Dinesha Devnarain readies herself for a new challenge

Devnarain said that younger members are encouraged to express themselves in the camp. “I just want to see true cricketers come out. In the world we live in now, a lot of people want to be a certain way because of what they see, but I just say be yourself," she said.

“I just want them to come through and be themselves, show their flair, their brand of cricket and we’ll try and harness that in the best way we can because I think they play the best cricket when they’re most comfortable.”

The former Proteas all-rounder was happy with the way the players have been progressing in the camp, adding, "You can see that the conditioning side of things has been a bit slow but that’s a consequence of COVID-19. But I must give credit to the girls for putting in the hard work."

“You can see that their bodies are sore and they’re bowling more than they should be. So I’m really happy with the way they’re carrying themselves and the work they’re giving me on the field.”

Training squad:

Masabata Klaas, Tazmin Brits, Anneke Bosch, Ayabonga Khaka, Robyn Searle, Trisha Chetty, Raisibe Ntozekhe, Sinalo Jafta, Lara Goodall, Andrie Steyn, Faye Tunnicliffe, Tumi Sekhukhune, Sune Luus, Nondumiso Shangase, Nonkululeko Mlaba, Micheala Andrews, Delmi Tucker, Tebogo Macheke, Nobulomko Baneti, Khayakaze Mathe, Gabisile Nkosi

Dane van Niekerk Marizanne Kapp Laura Wolvaardt Shabnim Ismail Cricket South Africa Dinesha Devnarain