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South Africa have become the third automatic qualifiers to the 2021 women’s World Cup, to be held in New Zealand, apart from the home side. South Africa got there after their 3-0 sweep over New Zealand, and joined Australia and England as the direct entrants.
One more team will earn a direct berth at the competition based on the 2017-2020 Women’s Championship points table, and the remaining three will have to make the cut through a qualifier in Sri Lanka to be played in July. India and Pakistan are currently just below the direct qualifiers – and New Zealand are at No. 6 – with West Indies and Sri Lanka at the bottom.
The 2021 tournament will be South Africa’s seventh appearance at a World Cup, since making their debut in 1993, and they will be aiming for their first final appearance after finishing in the top four in 2000 and 2017.
Since the 2017 edition, they have won series against Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and now New Zealand, drawn a series against Pakistan and lost to England and India, both home and away. Their next assignment is at home against Australia in March.
Following the series in New Zealand, several players have also made good ground on the ICC rankings, with Lizelle Lee sixth on the batting chart after topping the run-scorers’ list and Marizanne Kapp and Shabnim Ismail at No. 2 and No. 4 on the bowlers’ list.
While those players are more than likely to be involved in the World Cup, the coaching staff that guided them there may not be. The contracts of Hilton Moreeng and his associates will end in April, and it’s not clear if they will be subjected to the same review process as the rest of the country’s cricket structures. Acting CSA director of cricket Graeme Smith, who is expected to take on the role permanently following an IPL commentary stint, told media last week that the women’s set-up would be reviewed too, along with the Under-19 and domestic set-ups, as part of an exercise to develop a plan for cricket to progress.
Moreeng has been in charge of the women’s team since December 2012 and has taken them to two 50-over World Cups and three T20 World Cups, with the T20 World Cup in Australia set to be his fourth. Before that, South Africa play five T20Is in New Zealand.