South Africa Women’s Historic Tour Down Under: A Rare Test Match Awaits

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Unseen History! South Africa Women's Rare Test Match Down Under

South Africa Women’s Historic Tour Down Under: A Rare Test Match Awaits

The South African women’s cricket team is bracing themselves for a rare Test match in Australia, following a challenging limited-overs leg.

Despite losing the ODI and T20I series, the tour has already made history for the Proteas women, marking their first-ever victories in both T20Is and ODIs against Australia.

The upcoming Test match presents a formidable challenge for the South African team, whose only previous Test match since 2014 was in 2022 against England, which concluded in a draw.

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Historically, South Africa has only won one of the 13 women’s Tests they have played, with that solitary victory coming against the Netherlands in 2007.

South African all-rounder Nadine de Klerk acknowledges the challenge, stating, “It’s going to be a great challenge for us. It’s somewhat unknown territory for us and we haven’t played a lot of it. They’re a world-class side and we’re looking forward to going up against them.”

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De Klerk further elaborates on their strategy, “It’s about applying a lot of patience. It’s quite different from the white-ball games. You have to bat for long periods of time and I think the bowlers are going to bowl quite a few overs in there. So today it’s about figuring out how you want to go about it as individuals. Everybody’s game plan is going to look quite different. It’s about trying to figure out what works best for you and then taking that into the game,” she said.

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The upcoming match marks the first-ever Test between these two countries. It’s also the first red-ball international match at the WACA in Perth since 2017.

Furthermore, it’s only the fourth time that women’s Test cricket is being played at this ground, with the last one being in January 2014.

“Coming to Australia is quite special in general. A lot of us haven’t actually played here before, so I think for a lot of our young girls, it’s a great experience and we might not get that opportunity anytime soon,” de Klerk added. “So we’ll try and make the best out of it and hopefully have a lot of fun.”

Laura Wolvaardt will captain the South Africa side in the Test match that commences on Thursday, 15 February.