Amid series of losses, Dane Van Niekerk, the batswoman, is a bright light for South Africa

“Spare a thought for Dane Van Niekerk”

To captain any cricketing outfit is a challenge in itself. When you win, the victory is savoured by all. When you lose, they will all come for you. But to captain the Protea’s Women’s side, cannot be any easier in the real sense of the word. Forget the passion that automatically beckons you to bring out your A-game. Forget the world’s expectations of South Africa- a colossus in the sport.

After all, one shouldn’t forget South African cricketers are the standard-bearers of excellence the sport craves for.

But you are automatically transfixed to be special; you’d stop at nothing to be the best you can possibly be. In this regard, even as the Protea’s women’s haven’t been getting the kind of responses they would have liked in recent white-ball cricket, their captain is being the best she possibly can be.

Amid the highs and spurts of occasional brilliance, seemingly bearing a resemblance to a seemingly staccato rhythm in composition, Dane Van Niekerk is a figure of grace amid pressure. She has not had the pleasure of being on the side of victory where past results go, but you feel, she’s getting there.

No other cricketing force has had the pleasure to contest in 2 back-to-back T20 contests apart from South Africa. And no other team has also had the displeasure of being beaten fair and square in either of the games. Their cricket wasn’t the most vaunted at Taunton on June 20, 2018, but South Africa were trying.

Pain, akin to ecstasy, is after all, perennially Protean.

As a die-hard Protea’s supporter, you are compelled to believe- that Dane Van Niekerk will rise. The ocean waves are often powered by strong undercurrents. They take us by a surprise. We are sitting comfortably, facing the waves, perhaps wishing not for the agony to embrace our feet.

Often it does. But Dane Van Niekerk isn’t a reveller by the beach. She’s a ferocious amphibian; she’ll run toward the tides and battle them. As she has, in recent cricketing action, going after the bowlers, letting the bat do the talking. The precocious turner of the ball, the famous exponent of the leg-break has been swinging that bat real hard.

If the past couple of months of nervy, nail-biting, hair-crumbling cricket serve an example, then perhaps, South Africa Women’s have played no less cricket than their Indian, English or Australian counterparts. And Protea’s leading anchor Dane Van Niekerk has been facing a storm ever since Harmanpreet’s troupers descended down in South Africa and clinched their maiden ODI and T20 series.

As a cricket and a fan, who’d pit South Africa no lesser than India in both batting and bowling departments, you didn’t seem to believe what was happening.

India would smash South Africa in the 2 ODIs, both of which would yield a sizeably better outcome for Mithali Raj’s side. After an 88-run loss, followed by a 178-run crushing defeat, when it seemed South Africa couldn’t take it any more, then two formidable forces would rise. While the experienced Mignon Du Preez would play amongst her finest ODI knocks ever- a 90 off 111- captain Dane Van Niekerk would ton up the winning runs. Her 41 off 30 included 5 sterling boundaries.

This wouldn’t be a memorable series as a bowler, but she’d be the lone contributor in a listless 88-run loss to India, contributing with a 41. You instantly knew who the diamond was at the Diamond Oval, at Kimberley.

Moving on, she’d compile handy 89 runs from the 4 T20s that followed and clinch 2 wickets. At this time, you saw the batswoman in her rising to the occasion as the runs were drying up at the top order. A bold move would be to promote herself as the opener. At all these times, nine in ten people would say, Niekerk’s greatest skill was with the ball in hand.

But the start of a series of serious tonnage of runs would find its due course when she’d arrive in the United Kingdom. After Bangladesh had been white-washed by South Africa, a major relief of sorts to earn some handsome points in the ICC Women’s championship, South Africa would find the next-big challengers in Heather Knight’s England.

A highly experienced side with choicest hitters of the white ball and accomplished bowlers- Niekerk knew South Africa would have to tick all the right boxes to tackle England, especially in England.

But the Protea’s Women faltered. Victories weren’t for them. The series would be clinched in front of what can only be called a bedazzling batting form of Tammy Beaumont, with Sarah Taylor joining the chorus. This is when, you don’t consider the presence of Wyatt, Knight and, Sciver- who all played their part as England women won 2-1 versus South Africa.

But regardless of whether you had a thing for number crunching or not, you simply couldn’t take your eyes of Dane Van Niekerk. In the 3 ODIs that England played against South Africa, Niekerk nearly hit the bullseye on almost all occasions, save the 2nd ODI at Hove.

Surely, she didn’t have the luxury of seeing two Protean’s hit a hundred in the same inning, akin to England’s Beaumont and Taylor, who plundered a few too many at Brighton, Dane Van Niekerk, readjusted to no.4, in the 3 games, produced scores of 58, 9, and 95.

While the first ODI saw the Protea’s take an early advantage in the series, a total team effort and excellence in both departments of the game conquering any English momentum, all of it would be scattered in the games that followed.

Yet, Niekerk, reserved her finest at Canterbury- a 95 run gem, for it wasn’t just any other knock, coming of just 106 balls. Her belligerence with the bat included doings that could fittingly make a job-description of someone who’s supposedly hired to destroy bowlers: flick on the legs ungracefully, dance down the track to pacers, lift spinners out of the ground.

You don’t see a Brunt being creamed away for runs with ease. You don’t see Sciver being timed atrociously well to the covers.

In so doing, Dane Van Niekerk would clinch her 7th ODI fifty, including 2 in the same series. Even though South Africa could only produce individual gems in the series, able contributions coming from the big belter right at the top of the order- Lizelle Lee, followed by valuable runs by Mignon Du Preez, contributing in the match-winning First ODI, they weren’t really up there like England.

What next, everyone wondered? In all honesty, on pure winning form, it didn’t paint a dramatically different picture knowing that in the Tri-series T20 contests to follow, they’d also have to task NZ women, in addition to countering a Beaumont-powered England.

Cricket does find a way at harrowing you when the chips are down

On June 20, 2018 as South Africa became the only T20 side to feature in 2-back-to-back contests, writing history as only they could, Dane Van Niekerk, presented some real high-class bludgeoning from the bat. A sum of 130 runs was collected from the two feisty contests. Against, an in-form New Zealand- Neikerk would take the attack to Kasperek and Jensen and would compile a 44-ball-58, a valiant counter attack.

Sadly, this personal high would be against the backdrop of South Africa’s defeat in as many games on the same day.

One wondered, wasn’t she tired for doing all the batting in all these months of non-stop high-adrenaline cricket?

This is when, despite being part of a futile bowling effort, where the likes of Ismail, Kapp, Luus were being picked for runs, the leg-spinning captain went for the least from her share of 4 overs- even though, going at 9 an over.

You were stunned in the next game with what was to follow.

With no sign of fatigue, Niekerk, it occurs, may have thought to put more bat to the ball. The result in front of England’s massacring of SA’s bowlers was another feisty exhibition of power hitting. Niekerk’s 72 would come off 51 balls, featuring 8 boundaries and 3 sixes.

As South Africa’s bowlers failed to tame what was a perfectly executed game plan of the English, Beaumont and company again piling on Protea’s misery, the lone resistance forged by South Africa was through the bat of their leader.

Lions hunt in pairs; perhaps, arguably so making most of their preys. At this time, the loudest roar is Niekerk’s. It’s a loud and clear signal to her opponents that she’s no lame pushover. But for the Protea’s to truly fire, can others join the hunt?