Cape Town — It’s been a tricky few weeks for Sune Luus, as she struggles with her own form, while also dealing with drama surrounding the shock retirement of limited overs batting ace, Lizelle Lee.
“It’s been quite tough mentally,” she remarked on Wednesday.
Luus, usually the stand-in captain, has now occupied the position for all of this year, with Dane van Niekerk still not fully recovered from the fractured ankle that she suffered just before the World Cup in February. Luus led the Proteas admirably through that tournament, and it has been virtually non-stop for her since. She was among a handful of players involved in some T20 gigs before the tour to England, then was called upon to lead in a Test match — while making her debut — and a One-Day series in England. Next week, she’ll be captaining at the Commonwealth Games, as South Africa chase a medal in an eight team competition.
Before that, there’s a three match T20 series with England that starts on Thursday evening.
Although not as volatile as some of the drama that’s enveloped the men’s Proteas side, the controversy stirred up by Lee’s retirement has still proved challenging. “I try to stay away from the off-field stuff. I have a job to do on the field and that is to make the best decisions I can and manage the team as well as I can,” said Luus.
“Personally I try to stay away from everything. The off field stuff has nothing to do with the players individually. Everyone is trying to stay in their lane, have a positive mindset and focus on cricket. We have six, potentially eight games to go on this tour, and our jobs are to remain focused on cricket.”
Besides the leadership, Luus’s form with the bat has nosedived since her excellent World Cup campaign. She made three single-figure scores in the ODI series and couldn’t bowl as a result of a finger injury, from which she still hasn’t recovered.
Luus said that while the players took two days off after the last ODI, to refresh their minds as much as their bodies, there were still lots of conversations about what they could take out of the ODI series. “We didn’t perform to the best of our ability but we will still take a lot of lessons out of that series,” she said. “There are a lot of young players here, and games like we’ve had, set you up for the future, they help build experience. We are a strong group of girls, we have strong mindsets, we did chat about the games a lot. We want to put those three games behind us and move forward, and take the lessons with us.”
The arrival of Mignon du Preez and Masabatha Klaas has provided some much needed revitalisation for the squad ahead of the T20s. South Africa will need to win all three T20 matches, to tie the multi-format series, which England currently leads 8-2.
“It would be great to level the series, but we are thinking ahead to the Commonwealth Games as well, and we are going to try a few options,” said Luus.
The opening T20 International with England starts at 8pm on Thursday.
SQUADS:
South Africa: Anneke Bosch, Trisha Chetty, Nadine de Klerk, Lara Goodall, Sinalo Jafta, Marizanne Kapp, Ayabonga Khaka, Maria Masabata Klaas, Sune Luus (capt), Nonkululeko Mlaba, Tumi Sekhukhune, Shabnim Ismail, Chloe Tryon, Mignon Du Preez, Laura Wolvaardt, Delmi Tucker
England: Heather Knight, Maia Bouchier, Katherine Brunt, Kate Cross, Alice Capsey, Frey Davies, Sophia Dunkley, Sophie Ecclestone, Sarah Glenn, Amy Jones, Freya Kemp, Nat Sciver, Issy Wong, Danni Wyatt, Bryony Smith.
IOL Sport