The Proteas Women begin a new dawn by taking the first step in building for the World Cup in 2029 when they face Ireland in the opening ODI of three at Buffalo Park in East London on Saturday (10am).
This game will be the Proteas’ first 50-over outing since their heartbreak of losing to India in the last World Cup final in November.
The Proteas entourage arrived in East London on Thursday afternoon and will train at Buffalo Park on Friday (2pm to 5pm).
Some fresh blood has been infused into the squad for the Irish series. This is the start of depth-building for the coming four-year period.
Usual starters such as Marizanne Kapp, Ayabonga Khaka, Masabata Klaas, Nadine de Klerk, Annerie Dercksen and Chloé Tryon, who were part of the T20 team that beat the same opposition 2-0 in the recently completed series, have been rested for the ODIs.
Opportunity has been afforded to Lara Goodall, Ayanda Hlubi, Leah Jones, Karabo Meso, Nondumiso Shangase, Miané Smit and Faye Tunnicliffe to make an impression.
Also, the series will mark the return to the longer white ball format of veteran Dané van Niekerk after a three-year absence.
Captain Laura Wolvaardt is keen to see how the squad performs, especially with their record in ODIs at the ground not being good in recent times.
The Proteas have not won an ODI game at Buffalo Park since 2016.
The last two games ended as no-results, against Sri Lanka in 2024, and against Bangladesh in 2023 they were beaten by 119 runs.
“Very excited for the series to start,” Wolvaardt, who scored a record 571 runs at the Cricket World Cup in India, said.
“Obviously a format we’ve played a lot of lately, but in saying that, it’s a bit of a new-look squad compared to what we had at the World Cup.
“We have a couple of new bowlers. As captain, I will have to chat to them to see what their plans are.
“Looking forward to it and looking forward to seeing the depth that we have within the country.
“Some youngsters will be getting great opportunities in that series, so we are looking forward to seeing them play.
“I think Ireland are a very good side and they’ll definitely be bouncing back hard after this series, so we’ll have to be at our best.”
Wolvaardt was impressed by her team’s batting prowess in the T20s.
The Proteas posted 220 for two at Newlands and 201 for five in Paarl. They did not get to bat in Benoni on Wednesday as the match was washed out.
“Getting 200s back-to-back is pretty special; I think we’ve only done it once before in our history, so to do it twice in a row is impressive.
“We had some great individual performances too; Suné Luus as player of the series, Dané van Niekerk’s strong comeback, and lots of different batters chipping in to push us past 200.
“Our bowlers also created opportunities, and the spinners bowled well, so I’m really pleased overall,” she said.
Daily Dispatch
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