Dane van Niekerk left out of T20 World Cup squad, Luus to captain

Van Niekerk did not meet CSA’s fitness requirements as she has been recovering from a broken ankle

Firdose Moonda31-Jan-2023Dane van Niekerk, South Africa’s long-time regular captain, has not made the cut for the T20 World Cup next month. Van Niekerk, who has not played international cricket since September 2021, did not meet Cricket South Africa’s fitness requirements and has been excluded on those grounds. Sune Luus will captain the squad at the tournament.Luus has been leading the side in van Niekerk’s absence, including in the ongoing tri-series at home, involving India and West Indies. South Africa will play the final on February 2 against India in East London after finishing second on the points table between the two visiting sides. Marizanne Kapp, van Niekerk’s wife, has withdrawn from the match on personal grounds.”Dané was given an extensive opportunity to meet the minimum criteria, or the fitness benchmark for eligibility into the World Cup,” Clinton du Preez, women’s selection convener said. “She recently did another fitness test and unfortunately did not meet the minimum criteria, and therefore she’s missed out. It’s purely based on the not meeting of the fitness criteria that she’s missed out.”Related

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South Africa’s fitness standards require female cricketers to run 2-kilometres in 9 minutes 30 seconds, and ESPNcricinfo has learnt van Niekerk was over by 18 seconds, but did achieve a personal best in the test. She was most recently tested on January 27.Van Niekerk has been recovering from a broken ankle and had failed to meet the fitness requirements for the tri-series as well. However, coach Hilton Moreeng had believed at the time that van Niekerk would be ready for the World Cup. Moreeng had said that van Niekerk had been part of the team camp before the tri-series and had trained with them as well. Van Niekerk had lost 10kg at that time since last year’s Hundred and had met all her markers except the 2km time trial.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

When asked whether van Niekerk could have been tested in a different way, du Preez said the strength and conditioning expert had asked if they “could use a different option” to test van Niekerk but when she was tested on the treadmill, van Niekerk did not make the mark there either.South Africa have started rigorously applying fitness standards over the last two years and despite du Preez admitting that her skills as a player and leader will be missed, he said the selection process needed to be applied equitably. “Dané has been an integral part of the team. Her skill-set will always be missed on the field. We’ve had this discussion with her. We’ve extensively reminded her of that, and appreciated the hard work that she’s put in to try to get to the fitness levels,” he said. “It’s about remaining consistent with our decisions. Many other players have gone down this route. Everyone is quite familiar with the situation and what is required.”