The correct quote is “the revolution shall not be televised” from a poem by Jill Scott-Heron, and the truth is that it has been the case for many years when it came to women’s domestic cricket.
The women have had to grind and play their best cricket for years without being televised. The consequence of the limited audio-visual content is that every young girl’s cricket hero tends to be a male player rather than a woman. With the current developments in women’s cricket, it will be a catalyst of the standards of women’s domestic cricket improvements.
Now is not the time to complain but rather to rejoice and celebrate another milestone in women’s domestic cricket for South Africa. Thanks to SuperSport and Cricket South Africa for giving women’s domestic cricket a chance to be watched by millions of South Africans. There will be 4 women’s T20 matches televised by SuperSport, and this is what opening the gates of access looks like.
“Credit must go to the work done by Cricket South Africa and SuperSport to ensure that the women’s game gets much needed coverage. It’s significant steps in the right direction in the pursuit of professionalizing women’s cricket in South Africa. I’m very excited by the news!” said Fidelity Titans CEO Dr. Jacques Faul.
The historic match will be a T20 match between Fidelity Titans Women and Recon Tactical Free State Women. The match will kickoff at 2 pm at SuperSport Park.
“We consider it an incredible privilege to be a part of the televised women’s domestic games, and we look forward to it. This is our chance to make history and display the fruits of our laborious two-months training and skills development. We want to make it a game to remember and the start of something new for women’s cricket on TV.” said Titans skipper Robyn Searle.
The Titans are very much the stronger of the two sides on paper with the availability of Masabata Klaas, Anneke Bosch, and Eliz-Mari Marx, who are all available from national duty. The Titans ladies will be led by former Proteas batter Robyn Searle, Katherine Prior, Tebogo Macheke, Paulina Mashishi, and Monalisa Legodi.
“We’ve dedicated ourselves to preparation, and we’re fired up to tackle these remaining fixtures head-on.” said Robyn.
The disappointing thing is that the Titans will be without former Proteas and Titans captain Sune Luus, Gandhi Jafta, and Simone Lourens. Gandhi and Simone are on national duty at the Africa Games in Ghana.
Another player that won’t be unavailable due to national commitments at the Africa Games is Miané Smit from Free State women (Knights). Free State will miss the young batting all-rounder as she is an important member of their team and probably the second best player in the team after Mignon du Preez (van der Merwe).
With all due respect to the Africa Games and growing women’s cricket in Africa. Miané, Simone and Gandhi should be available for this fixture as it’s a groundbreaking moment for women’s cricket in Africa. If women’s domestic cricket is going to be shown on national television, it is important that the product produced has not only the best available players but also the quality of it is protected. CSA let down their broadcast partner SuperSport in that regard. The same energy that has been given to men’s cricket in ensuring the national team players are available in the CSA T20 Challenge should have been given to women’s cricket. Proteas skipper Laura Wolvaardt should be the only player missing in this fixture since she is playing in the Women Premier League in India.
Even without Miané, Free State will be a formidable force led by Yolandi Potgieter. Yolandi will depend on Mignon, Verunnisa Reddy, Zintle Kula, Evodia Yekile, Elandri Janse van Rensburg, Gizelle Janse van RensburgAnica Swart
It will be a homecoming match for Mignon as she served the Titans brand for many years with distinctions. This will be the first time she plays at SuperSport Park representing another local side. Mignon even has an entrance named after her at SuperSport Park, which is how much her contributions have made an impact at the Northens Cricket Union.
Free State may be the lesser of the two sides coming into this match, but they have the advantage of match fitness. Titans ladies will be playing their first competitive match of the year in this historic fixture. Oddly enough, this will be the first time this season these two sides meet, so there will be no familiarity between the two sides. The last time these sides met was two seasons ago as Free State was not in the top 6 last season.
Last week Saturday, the two sides meet for the 50 over fixture from 10 am at Centurion. The return fixture is scheduled for the weekend of 23 March at Mangaung Oval, Bloemfontein.
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