New Heroes
The Momentum Proteas have provided new heroes for the next generation.
This was the Last Dance for some of the Momentum Proteas players. And according to Captain Sune Luus, the younger players were heartbroken that they could not give the most senior players a proper send-off. However, a semifinal loss is not going to define this group of players. They have achieved more.
After the Momentum Proteas’ semifinal loss to England, there was a brief moment of silence in the room. It didn’t last very long. They had lost to a better team on the day and there was a general feeling of pride in the dressing-room. They had had a fantastic campaign.
Lefty (Nonkululeko Mlaba) and Tumi Sekhukhune were being themselves. Lefty and Tumi love to sing, it’s their thing. They have a mutual love for hip hop. They sing when they are happy, they sing when the game is tight and they sing when they are relaxing. Marizanne Kapp is the opposite. She is a quiet person and prefers silence most of the time. One of those times is when the game is going down to the wire.
The 2022 World Cup in New Zealand had a few tense moments, and it took a lot for Kappie to not ask Lefty and Tumi, who sat beside her a lot of the time, to be silent for a bit. She accepts that people are different and not everyone is like her. Her wife, Dane van Niekerk, has been telling her to loosen up for a while now. Her huge flaw is that she takes cricket too seriously.
It’s not just cricket that she takes very seriously. She ‘puts 200% into everything she does.’ She always has. That’s how she ended up excelling at biathlon, netball, indoor and outdoor cricket and whatever other sport that she took to when she was growing up.
During this World Cup, Kappie had added responsibilities. She was batting a little up the order. The increased workload was tiring, but she didn't complain. She attacked it with everything she had. When she felt spent, she prayed. Kappie finds strength in prayer.
Anyway, anyone who watched the group stages match the Momentum Proteas played against England would remember how much Kappie was visibly upset with herself after she was dismissed in the 49th over. South Africa needed 10 runs to win. Kappie literally collapsed with relief when Trisha Chetty and Shabnim Ismail saw the team over the line.
“I put a lot of pressure on myself,” Kappie confesses. “I get so annoyed with myself because I feel like I have been around the block for a few years now. I play cricket all over the world, I have been blessed to do that. So I have a lot of experience. And so, I am at that stage where I really get annoyed with myself if I can't or don't finish games for my team.”
Of course, Kappie has her moments where she has fun with her teammates, like now after the semifinal match against England. She shared the pride that everyone was feeling. The team had some incredible moments during the tournament.
“Dane has been trying to teach me that cricket isn't everything, and has been trying to show me that I can enjoy it a bit more when cricket doesn't define me as a person,” says Kappie.
Hilton Moreeng did not make a speech after the Momentum Proteas’ semifinal loss to England. He doesn’t do huge speeches. He is not that kind of coach. Maybe he might do a speech in the future, but he did not do one in the aftermath of the Momentum Proteas’ semifinal loss to England. There was no need. Moreeng was proud of his side.
He had always known that this World Cup was going to be a little tough. The team came into the tournament without captain Dane van Niekerk. Sune Luus did a fantastic job as captain, however, the hole left by Dane’s absence in the batting lineup had not been adequately filled.
Everyone had done their best, though. That is all Moreeng always asks for.
New Zealand was a new territory too. New conditions. The pre-tournament series against New Zealand had helped. Abram Ramoadi, the team’s analyst had done a phenomenal job in helping the team prepare. Ramoadi has been with the Momentum Proteas as long as Hilton has been with the team. They have a great relationship. Lots of trust between the two men. Moreeng has been with the Momentum Proteas since December 2012.
Moreeng has spent a long time with this group. The majority of the senior players have been with the side since 2009. Mignon du Preez has been with the side since 2007. Time has helped to build understanding, create bonds and trust between the players and management. Communication is not one way.
“We have been pushing the idea for independent thinking a lot,” says Hilton Moreeng.
Since 2017, Moreeng and his support staff identified ODI cricket as one format they needed to improve and be consistent in. They had the players with the talent. With Mignon du Preez, Laura Woolvardt, Dane van Niekerk, Lizelle Lee, Lara Goodall in their line up, Moreeng felt that they had match-winners. Any one of those players could score big, anyone could put up a match-winning performance. The problem was consistency.
“We had to try to make sure each and every player understands where they fit in and what role they will play and how to keep improving on their roles,” says Moreeng.
The coach has watched the 2022 World Cup with pride. The senior players showed maturity. They played as people who understood their skills, understanding their roles and what is required in their roles. Unlike in the past, the Momentum Proteas have shown that they possess the ability to be calm in the most stressful situations. For years, he has been repeating to them that a calm mind makes better decisions than a stressed one. It has paid off.
This team has set the benchmark for the junior and future players.
A lot of young girls have new heroes. When Ayabonga Khaka was young, she played cricket with the boys, both at home and at school. It was a great space for her because though the competition was hard, everyone around her saw to it that she was comfortable. Khaka’s hero was Makhaya Ntini, mostly because he came from the same environment as she did.
“Makhaya Ntini showed the world it doesn't matter where you come from, anything is possible,” says Ayabonga Khaka.
When Mignon du Preez started playing senior team cricket, the Momentum Proteas played about three ODIs a year. It wasn’t a lot.
Anyway, Mignon started playing cricket because she was always tagging along when her brother went to play Baker’s Mini Cricket. She was one of the few girls there. She was fortunate to have a father who did not think certain sports were reserved for boys and men, and women and girls had their own lot.
To inspire her, to keep her going, Mignon’s father would set her targets. If Mignon scored 50 runs, she earned herself a bat. 100 runs earned her something else, maybe spikes or pads. Having something to aspire to kept Mignon interested in cricket. It kept her involved.
Mignon’s hero was Hansie Cronje.
You had to be a tomboy to play cricket as a girl. It wasn’t really a sport for girls. Marizanne Kapp played most of her backyard and street cricket against boys from the neighbourhood and her male cousins.
Marizanne Kapp grew up when there was no women's cricket on TV. It was hard to know the names of the female players doing well at the time. They were there, they were few, but they were there. So she enjoyed watching Shaun Pollock, Allan Donald, Jonty Rhodes, Makhaya Ntini, Jacques Kallis.
Some of the members of this Momentum Proteas side will not play in the next World Cup. New players will ascend to positions of seniority. New names will dominate the news as game-changers. They will leave the side without a World Cup title. Captain Sune Luus would have loved to send them off with that. But they have also achieved something huge. They have given the next generation of Momentum Proteas female heroes.
They might not have gone all the way, but they played some fantastic and inspiring cricket.
Thank you for reading. I am entirely freelance and have no intention of putting content behind a paywall. However, for me to be able to continue producing more content, I depend on your patronage. So, please do support my work on Patreon.
Alternatively, you could Buy Me A Coffee.
Also, please encourage anyone whom you think may be interested in my work to subscribe.