Ken Borland

The South African women’s cricket team’s rise from sixth to third in the international rankings is undoubtedly rooted in the better opportunities they now have since being sponsored by Momentum and Mignon du Preez’s side is off on tour again this weekend as they head to Sri Lanka for four ODIs and three T20s.

The women’s Proteas are battle-hardened from their tough tour of world number ones England last month and will want to show how far they have advanced from this time last year when they hosted Sri Lanka and won both the ODI and T20 series.

“We played brilliantly against them here at home, but it’s going to be a different ball game playing them now in their home conditions. Ideally, we want to make sure we improve on those results because it’s the start of the ICC Women’s Challenge and the points are important for us to finish in the top four and automatically qualify for the 2017 World Cup. So it’s one of our most important tours,” captain Du Preez told The Citizen yesterday.

Talented all-rounder Sune Luus has withdrawn from the South African squad because she will be writing her matric exams, but off-spinner Yolani Fourie, the captain of the SA Emerging Players team, has been called up for the first time by the senior side.

The responsibility will now fall on young Dane’ van Niekerk to be the main leg-spinner in the team, but Du Preez believes the pace bowlers will be the strength of the South Africans.

“The Sri Lankans are used to spin, they’ve often played two seamers and five spinners against us, so spin is what they know. But they’re not so used to the speed we can produce and I think our amazing seamers can do something special against them, plus we have swing bowlers too who can move the ball both ways,” Du Preez said.

The women’s Proteas arrive on the sub-continental island on Sunday and the first ODI is on Wednesday at the Sinhalese Sports Club.

Squad: Bernadine Bezuidenhout, Trisha Chetty, Moseline Daniels, Mignon du Preez, Yolani Fourie, Shabnim Ismail, Marizanne Kapp, Ayabonga Khaka, Lizelle Lee, Matshipi Letsoalo, Nadine Moodley, Andrie Steyn, Chloe Tryon, Dane’ van Niekerk.

Momentum’s tremendous support for South African cricket continues with the last official fixtures of the 2013/14 season when the National Club Championships are held in and around Pretoria from today to Monday.

Northerns Premier League winners Assupol Tukkies are the defending champions and will be aiming for a hat-trick of titles, as well as the R50 000 prizemoney for the winning club.

The University of Pretoria may be bringing a new-look side to the club championships – missing nine of last year’s triumphant squad – but they remain in impressive form and full of confidence.

Tukkies not only won the Northerns Premier League in convincing fashion but are also on their way to London in July as South Africa’s representatives in the Red Bull Campus Cricket World Finals, having beaten the University of Stellenbosch 3-0 in the local T20 finals in Pretoria two weeks ago.

But Tukkies coach Pierre de Bruyn says his team cannot afford to rest on their laurels this week, with Maties one of their main challengers in Section Two of the competition.

“We’ve won the last two club champs and have been unbeaten in both, which means there’s a lot of pressure on us this year. We’ll have to start from scratch and put the Red Bull competition behind us, which was a different format anyway.

“We’ve set the benchmark the last couple of years in the club champs, but the teams chasing us are meeting that now and we need to be even better. The other teams are getting closer and closer and it will come down to who plays the better cricket on the day. Every day is highly important and we can’t afford any slip-ups, you can’t have any bad days,” De Bruyn told The Pretoria News yesterday.

The other teams in Tukkies’ section are Cape Town Cricket Club (WP), Kempton Park (Easterns), Madibaz George (SWD) and United, the Border champions, while the sides competing in Section One are Crusaders (KZN), Madibaz PE (EP), North-West University Pukke, University of Free State, University of Johannesburg (Gauteng) and West End from Griquas.

The Tukkies squad has been boosted by the presence of all-rounder Graeme van Buuren, the Titans’ Newcomer of the Year award-winner, and the hero of the University of Pretoria’s triumph in last season’s National Club Championships.

The triumphant SA U19 captain, Aiden Markram, as well as Corbin Bosch, the fast bowler who took four for 15 to win the Player of the Match award in the ICC Junior World Cup last month, are also in the Tukkies squad, but the hard-hitting Theunis de Bruyn has been forced to withdraw due to illness.

Left-arm paceman Vincent Moore is also unavailable as he does not play in the Northerns league, but Tukkies do have the services of experienced non-students like Sean Nowak and Gerhard Linde, both of whom are pace bowlers.

The Tukkies quest for a hat-trick of titles begins today against Kempton Park Cricket Club, the club champions from Northerns’ franchise partners Easterns, at the Tshwane University of Technology Oval.

Competing teams

Section 1: Crusaders (KZN), Madibaz PE (EP), NWU Pukke (North-West), University of Free State (Free State), University of Johannesburg (Gauteng), West End (Griquas).

Section 2: Cape Town (WP), Kempton Park (Easterns), Madibaz George (SWD), Tuks (Northerns), United (Border), University of Stellenbosch (Boland).

Tukkies squad: Aiden Markram, Gerry Pike, Tian Koekemoer, Sean Dickson, Heinrich Klaasen, Graeme van Buuren, Johan Wessels, Tertius Gouws, Sean Nowak, Ruben Claasen, Gerhard Linde, Corbin Bosch, Murray Coetzee.

Fixtures

Today: Section 1 – West End v UJ (Mamelodi Oval); Pukke v Crusaders (Memorial Park); Madibaz PE v UFS (Tuks Oval). Section 2 – Tukkies v Kempton Park (TUT Oval); Madibaz George v Cape Town CC (Sinovich Park); Maties v United (Irene Villagers).

Tomorrow: Section 1 – West End v Crusaders (Memorial Park); UJ v UFS (Tuks Oval); Pukke v Madibaz PE (St Albans). Section 2 – Tukkies v Cape Town CC (Sinovoch Park); Kempton Park v United (Irene Villagers); Madibaz George v Maties (TUT Oval).

Friday: Section 1 – West End v UFS (Laudium Oval); Crusaders v Madibaz PE (Mamelodi Oval); UJ v Pukke (St Albans). Section 2 – Tukkies v United (Sinovich Park); Cape Town CC v Maties (TUT Oval); Kempton Park v Madibaz George (Irene Villagers).

Saturday: Section 1 – West End v Madibaz PE (St Albans); UFS v Pukke (Groenkloof); Crusaders v UJ (Laudium Oval). Section 2 – Tukkies v Maties (Irene Villagers); United v Madibaz George (TUT Oval); Cape Town CC v Kempton Park (Sinovich Park).

Sunday: Section 1 – West End v Pukke (Mamelodi Oval); Madibaz PE v UJ (Tuks Oval); UFS v Crusaders (St Albans). Section 2 – Tukkies v Madibaz George (TUT Oval); Maties v Kempton Park (Sinovich Park); United v Cape Town CC (Irene Villagers).

Monday: Final – Winner Section 1 v Winner Section 2 (SuperSport Park).