Dane van Niekerk was always part of T20 World Cup plans, says Proteas Women's selection chief

When Dané van Niekerk broke her ankle attempting to scale a wall at her house in January 2022, little did she know what the future would hold.

At the time, Van Niekerk was one of the most celebrated leaders in women’s cricket. Since that fateful fall, it’s been to hell and back for the now 32-year-old, with Van Niekerk not only losing her leadership role in the interim but also retiring and then building up the mental strength to stage a comeback.

Lesser characters would have stayed away and been content to do the occasional commentary work, whilst supporting her wife and fellow Proteas star all-rounder Marizanne Kapp.

But being the fierce competitor she has always been, Van Niekerk knew that it would always haunt her not to give it another crack. She still had unfinished business.

Spurred on by her biggest supporter — Kapp — Van Niekerk did the hard yards to get herself into the physical shape to compete at the international level.

And after initially focusing solely on domestic cricket, she successfully reintegrated into the national team last year, showing that she still had plenty of value to add with a couple of blitzkrieg cameos during the Ireland inbound series.

The target from the outset was the T20 World Cup in England and Wales next month. But again, an untimely injury made it look like the dream would elude her.

Van Niekerk missed the New Zealand tour and the subsequent home India series due to a thigh injury, and the possibility of missing the global showpiece loomed large again.

But Coach Mandla Mashimbyi and the national convenor of selectors were walking the road with Van Niekerk this time, and trusted the fact that, despite her not playing any cricket since March, she would still be included in the Proteas’ 15-player squad once a clean bill of health was issued by the medical team.

“Yeah, Dané [had an] unfortunate injury that she picked up before the away series, because [she] was definitely part of the plans all along,” Du Preez said.

“Unfortunately, she had a setback with illness as well, which obviously put us a bit under pressure from getting her involved in the India series.

“But she’s always been part of the plan. She's in good shape. She’s been working whilst being off and she's currently also doing some work at the academy at the HPC, which is also good to see. She’s ready and fit.”

Van Niekerk will play an integral role for the Proteas at the T20 World Cup. The Proteas dominated the recent series against ODI world champions India, claiming a 4-1 triumph built on the foundations set by openers Laura Wolvaardt and Suné Luus.

The early momentum was, however, often lost during the middle periods of the innings when India’s spinners took control.

Van Niekerk remains one of the most accomplished players of spin and will hopefully be able to bring that to the table in the UK.

“It’s definitely a strategic decision within our batting lineup,” Du Preez said.

“It’s something that we believe we require from a stability point of view and also impacting with her experience within that middle order. And therefore, Dané has always been a consideration for this World Cup.”