CAPE TOWN – Proteas Women's captain Dane van Niekerk is set to make her much-anticipated return to the national team for the proposed tour of the West Indies next month.
IOL Sport understands the Momentum Proteas are due to face the Windies in three T20I's and a five-match ODI series in Antigua.
Van Niekerk has not played for the Proteas since the epic T20 World Cup semi-final defeat to eventual winners Australia at the SCG back in March 2020 due to a lower back injury sustained in September last year.
All-rounder Sune Luus led the Proteas in Van Niekerk's absence, leading the team to a 3-0 ODI whitewash and 2-1 T20I series victory over Pakistan, while also creating history by beating a powerful Indian side 4-1 in the ODI's and 2-1 in the T20s.
But Van Niekerk is fit and raring to go again, having returned to competitive action last week in England's new limited-overs competition The Hundred. She has been in fine form from the outset, striking a match-winning undefeated half-century in the tournament opener for The Oval Invincibles.
Van Niekerk followed it up with another splendid performance in her first appearance at Lord's, where she struck a crucial 29 off 36 balls before claiming 3/30 with her leg-breaks to drive The Invincibles to a second consecutive victory.
Van Niekerk is one of five Proteas' competing in The Hundred along with Marizanne Kapp, Shabnim Ismail, Mignon du Preez and Laura Wolvaardt.
The quintuplet will meet up with the rest of their Proteas teammates at London's Heathrow Airport after the completion of The Hundred - the final is set for August 21 at Lord's - enroute to the Caribbean where the players will quarantine for three days upon arrival on August 24.
The T20Is will be played at the Coolidge Cricket Ground, while the ODI's are set for the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium.
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