Picture Credit: CSA
South Africa's women’s cricket team has faced a massive blow ahead of the 2022 Commonwealth Games as its star all-rounder Marizanne Kapp has been ruled out of the tournament. Kapp left her team’s series against England midway and traveled back to the country due to personal reasons and now will not be a part of the Birmingham Games starting August 29. The Proteas head coach Hilton Moreeng confirmed the development after the conclusion of the T20I series against England.
Cricket South Africa had earlier hinted at Kapp missing the Games after she flew back to South Africa due to an emergency situation in the family. It was then confirmed by the head coach who rued the absence of many senior players after the ODI and T20I series losses to England. “It’s sport. These kinds of things happen. Sometimes you have plans as a team, as coaches, as an organization and then players feel that on certain days they’ve had enough,” Moreeng was quoted by ESPNCricinfo.
“You have to respect and celebrate the times that they had with you because they were incredible cricketers and these kinds of things happen because when you look at where they are in their lives, the different stages of their lives, they have to make at times decisions that are good for them, as people first, before they can worry about anything else,” he added.
Notably, before departing for South Africa when the news of her brother-in-law meeting with a major accident and her niece and nephew falling sick were broken, Kapp played some really good innings for the team in the one-off Test and three ODIs. The all-rounder scored a magnificent century, recording a score of 150 (213) in the Test and scored 147 runs in three ODIs she played.
South Africa also suffered a major setback when star batter Lizelle Lee announced her sudden retirement from all three formats amid a dispute over the issuance of a NOC for her to participate in The Hundred. Pacer Shabnim Ismail has also been under the scanner with injury concerns. With the availability of many big names looking uncertain, South Africa will have a major task at the Games where they are placed in Group B alongside Sri Lanka, England, and New Zealand.