Following her team's runners-up finish at the recently-concluded ICC Women's T20 World Cup, South Africa skipper Sune Luus urged the Cricket South Africa (CSA) to invest in women's cricket in the country in order to "keep up with Australia, England and India" and introduce the SA20 League, the country's domestic T20 League, for women as well.
Following their fighting 19-run loss to Australia in the final of the ICC Women's T20 World Cup, Luus-led South Africa feels that it has done its bit in raising the profile of women's cricket in the country, but needs greater investment and resources to keep up with top cricketing sides in the world.
"We have done our best to give the girls in the country the best possible chance. We would have obviously loved to win, but I do not think we could have given it a bigger shot and more of a chance. It is obviously up to CSA and the Minister of Sport and whoever is in charge of cricket in this country to knock on doors and open those doors and give women's cricket the best chance they could possibly have to keep up with Australia, with England and with India," said the skipper as quoted by ESPNCricinfo.
Luus said that the presence of the franchise T20 leagues for women players in these aforementioned countries has contributed to the betterment of women's cricket there and asked CSA to consider a women's edition of its new league, SA20.
"Hopefully we get an SA20 for women's as well. That would really, really help South African women's cricket, especially just to get that depth that we keep talking about. If you look at all those leagues - they are in the top three nations, and that is why they are so good. That is why they have that depth, because they have leagues where overseas players come and play and you get used to playing with them and against them," said Luus.
"That is something we really need to look at. We have been asking for a very long time for an SA League. I know it is budget constrained, and there is always resources and all those things but we have given our girls the best chance we could have. And it is up to CSA and everyone involved to kind of make that happen and give it our best shot," added the skipper.
SA20 was launched last year in the summer and was an immediate success. All six teams were owned by Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises and had a broadcast deal in India. As a result, it will earn a profit in its first year.
There was initially talks about a possible spin-off for women's from the second year, but within the last two weeks, it emerged that the December-January schedule of WBBL and the inaugural Women's Premier League (WPL) from March 4 in India could complicate the launch of women's SA20.
The organisers are also concerned about lack of women's cricketers in provincial system to form a quality T20 franchise league for women.
The answers will not come fully as the country is yet to process its success in ICC Women's T20 World Cup. It is evident though that there is a sizable gap between progress in women's cricket in Australia and the rest of the world, but South Africa, despite fewer resources are catching up and perhaps punching above their weight.
"If you look at our structures and our setup, there are still massive differences [with Australia]," Laura Wolvaardt, who scored 61 off 48 in the final. said.
"The depth that they have in their cricket is incredible. If they lose one player, they can replace it with a carbon copy of another player. We do not really always have that luxury. They are years ahead of us development-wise. We cannot deny that fact. So I think we have put on a good show to make it all the way to the final with what we have."
South Africa has a strong group of core players, led by an experienced pace attack featuring Shabnim Ismail, Marizanne Kapp and Ayabonga Khaka, who have a combined 40 years of playing experience and each one of them expressed how reaching the final was a fulfillment of their career-long ambition.
Luus has given a "sniff" of what the final feels like to the senior stars and now aims to take her side all the way to their first world title.
"We got a sniff of how a final is, and the feelings and the nerves and everything," Luus said.
"Now we have the heartache of not winning a final. But getting through that hurdle of the semi-final - at next year's World Cup, when we get there again, it is not going to be a big thing for us anymore to break that curse. It is just for us to really look at that final and say, 'Okay, cool, how are we going to get through the final and be on the other side of that?," added the skipper.
Though Luus has her dreams of helping her country clinch the first-ever world title in cricket, she and the rest of her side just want to savour what they experienced while hosting the T20 WC. Weeks before its start, the team was not even sure that they will be able to draw big crowds, never mind record crowds at Newlands for the opener, semifinal and final and capacity crowds at St George's Park and Boland Park as well.
The World Cup has exceeded the expectations of the entire country.
"When we started the tournament, we were hoping it was not going to be too embarrassing with empty stadiums, following up on the MCG three years ago. We just hoped there would be a couple of people coming to the game. To see this at every single game we have played is absolutely next level. The country was really behind us and it's something we never really thought would happen. It is such an honour to be able to have that opportunity to inspire a nation and for them to come out and watch us play. It was such a blessing," concluded Luus.
( With inputs from ANI )
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