Ahead of the all-important ICC Women’s ODI World Cup 2025, South Africa have clarified their position on ex-captain Dane van Niekerk’s return to international cricket after retirement. South Africa coach Mandla Mashimbyi has confirmed that the former captain is not part of their plans for the upcoming Women’s ODI World Cup.
Earlier this week, Van Niekerk revealed she would come out of retirement and the Proteas included the 32-year-old in their pre tournament training camp in Durban, just weeks out from the start of this year’s 50-over World Cup, which will be played in India and Sri Lanka.
However, the Proteas said a potential return for van Niekerk at the World Cup would be too soon and that the all-rounder still had plenty of boxes to tick before she would be considered.
“She’s just part of the bigger or broader base of players that we’re trying to bring into our environment. She’s definitely not part of this World Cup. She’s not going,” said coach Mashimbyi.
“We wanted to bring her in and actually expose her to the environment so that she can understand what the expectations are.
Hopefully she can carry on from here onwards and really understand how she wants to go about things. And then one day when she gets a call up, you know, she can come in and have an impact immediately,” he added.
Dane van Niekerk’s Previous Outings At ICC Events
Van Niekerk captained South Africa at the 2017 edition of the ODI World Cup and has featured at three previous tournaments and in a total of seven ICC Women’s T20 World Cups having made her international debut back in 2009.
It’s been more than five months since van Niekerk’s last competitive hit out for Western Province in South Africa’s domestic 20-over tournament. The talented all-rounder knows she has plenty of work to do before she can prove she is ready for an international return.
“I know I’m probably not where everyone is at the moment. I understand where I need to be for the team. It’s going to be a lot of hard work, but I definitely wouldn’t have gone through all of this if I’m not willing to put that in,” she said.
“This is almost a baseline for me to really gauge where I’m at when it comes to the physical side, when it comes to the skill side, and all those things. Hopefully, I can have a clearer view after this camp. I’d know with the conversations we’ve had where I need to be in the next few months,” she added.