Unstoppable Kapp wants to give more to Proteas

Marizanne Kapp hopes to continue her international career beyond next year’s ODI World Cup.

“It was initially the plan to end there, but I feel like I am playing the best cricket of my life,” she said. “So, if my body allows, I want to keep going as long as possible.” 

Kapp’s current national contract ends with the 50-over World Cup, for which dates are yet to  be announced. “I thought it would be an injustice to myself to stop. Playing in the leagues around the world is great, but nothing beats that sense of playing for your country, or going to a World Cup,” she said. 

As an all-rounder, the physical and mental demands on the 34-year-old are already high as she is never “out of the game” — and given the current South African team’s shortcomings, she has to constantly produce match-winning performances.

Despite those challenges, she is desperate to continue as an all-rounder. “I am better when I’m performing both skills. But obviously it is about management,” she said.

“If you look at the trends in world cricket, then for all-rounders like (Ellyse) Perry and (Natalie) Sciver-Brunt, they may occasionally focus on one element in a match, they will bat up the order in an ODI, but not bowl their full 10 overs in every ODI, which is something we are trying to do.” 

However, in that regard she is a victim of her own greatness in that it has made the Proteas overly reliant on performances from her for the team to achieve success.

The recent Australia tour was one such example. She made back-to-back half-centuries at the start of the ODI series, including a performance in the second match in which she scored 75 and took three wickets in South Africa’s first ODI victory against Australia. 

“It adds a lot of pressure, knowing there are such high expectations. I have been playing for 15 years and I enjoy having to perform, but it isn’t nice when others struggle,” said Kapp.

“It is tough, especially the mental side of it. When you look at the Australia series, even though we won against them for the first time, it was extremely tough, because when we play well, we are really good, but when we play badly, we are really bad. There isn’t that nice balance you need, which comes through experience, which unfortunately a lot of the new girls don’t have.”

The additional pressure can occasionally lead to her overstepping the mark, as was the case in last Wednesday’s T20 International against Sri Lanka. Kapp was reprimanded for breaching Level 1 of the International Cricket Council’s Code of Conduct after giving the Sri Lankan captain Chamari Athapaththu a foul mouthed “send-off”. 

While it was Kapp’s first such offence, it also indicates how much she still cares, and her decision to continue playing beyond the 2025 World Cup will be a huge relief to skipper Laura Wolvaardt.

The generation of players that she started with put South African women’s cricket on the map. When the likes of Shabnim Ismael, Lizelle Lee, Mignon du Preez, Tricia Chetty and Kapp’s wife, Dane van Niekerk, retired, Kapp felt her world was crumbling around her. “It was very tough, I struggled a lot,” she said. 

In the last two years, Kapp has elevated her game to the point where her status as South Africa’s greatest cricketer is no longer a matter of debate. She averages 55.35 with the bat in ODIs in the last three years, has made a century and five 50s in that period and taken 28 wickets at 27.96 with the ball. She is ranked as the No 1 ODI all-rounder by the ICC. 

Although playing is still the major focus, Kapp said beyond her career on the field, she won’t leave the sport. “Nah, I will definitely stay within the cricket set-up in some capacity. I can’t see myself doing something else, I want to give back.”