Former Proteas bowler Vernon Philander believes the recent investments in professionalising women’s cricket in SA and making the domestic leagues competitive will see the national team winning a World Cup soon.
The Proteas Women lost their second consecutive T20 World Cup final two weeks ago, against New Zealand in the United Arab Emirates, but Philander feels it is a matter of time before they win one and that CSA’s Domestic Women’s League will accelerate the wait.
To date, only the big three plus the West Indies have taken the initiative to professionalise their women’s domestic circuit.
Australia have their Women’s Big Bash League, England have The Hundred and India have the Women’s IPL. The Windies joined them recently with the Women’s CPL
SA have made strides towards making it five nations, with the department of sport, arts and culture investing R15-million over three years, laying the foundation for the professionalisation of the league and signalling a new era for women's cricket in SA.
Australia were the first to come up with a women’s professional league in 2015 and have reaped the rewards from it.
Their league has since been a platform for cricketers from various countries to showcase their talents before a global audience.
That international talent has created a competitive environment, raising the standard of cricket.
One of the main reasons Australia have clinched the 2018, 2020 and 2023 T20 World Cups, and the 2021 50-over World Cup trophy, is because of the intense competition in their league.
Current SA players such as Marizanne Kapp, Laura Wolvaardt, Sune Luus, Chloe Tryon and Ayabonga Khaka have had their fair share of travelling the globe and the experience they have garnered has, without doubt, helped the growth of the national team.
Philander said that the more competitive the new league became, the more it would attract interest from the other well-established leagues.
The professionalisation of women’s cricket now allows Division 1 (Top 6) teams to contract 11 players each, further bolstered by the addition of high-performance and nationally contracted players.
“Our women’s cricket has come a long way and has grown massively,” Philander said.
“We have to applaud guys like Hollywoodbets for putting a huge chunk of money into the new league and making sure that women are getting the exposure of creating names.
“For them to have [played] back-to-back finals speaks volumes.
“Yes, we might not cross the line in terms of getting a big ‘W’ but it’s around the corner. You can feel it, especially with the momentum these ladies would have gained.
“There are younger girls who are coming into the set-up and know what is at stake. That is to get a World Cup and it’s now within reach.
“We beat the most successful team, Australia, in the semifinal, those are huge positives going forward that on any given day we can match up with the big teams.
“We just need to continuously play in high-pressure situations so that when we get to the big stage we are used to playing, and the new league will provide that for our girls as it grows with proper resources injected by CSA and sponsors,” he said.
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