‘I’m already at Lords’ — Mashimbyi brimming with confidence before Women’s T20 World Cup

If the Proteas carry enough confidence into the 2026 Women’s T20 World Cup, the national women’s team can lift their first global trophy in England next month.

This is according to Mandla Mashimbyi, head coach of the Proteas, who believes his side already belong among the favourites.

Last week the Proteas got together for a team-building session and two days of training at Wits University before their departure for the showpiece tournament.

Since 2023, SA have reached three consecutive World Cup finals, including two T20 World Cup finals, but are still searching for their first major trophy.

Mashimbyi remains convinced the breakthrough is within reach.

“It’s about increasing their confidence and for them to just understand that they will need to be good with their execution,” he said. “Those are the two things that we’re actually putting time on.”

Mashimbyi said he had no doubt in his players’ ability to go all the way, and just needed them to have the confidence in themselves to do it.

“I’m already at Lord’s (where the final will be taking place),” he said. “I’m just looking after the process now to get there.

“SA has shown over the years that we are a force to be reckoned with, and we didn’t get to those finals by chance. Every team knows that SA aren’t going to be a pushover.”

Integrating experience with young talent

The Proteas Women head into the T20 World Cup in England and Wales on the back of an intense stretch of international cricket, having tested themselves against Ireland, Pakistan, New Zealand and India in recent months.

Aside from a difficult series against New Zealand in March and April, the team have dominated, blending experienced players with emerging talent.

All-rounder Suné Luus described the rotation and returning faces as “a bit wild”, but added that the overall mix may prove to be a major strength in the World Cup.

“On paper, we’re one of the best teams at the World Cup,” said Luus. “Kayla [Reyneke] is a great talent coming from Under-19s. She loves winning games for SA, that we’ve seen over the last couple of months.

“Having Shabnim [Ismail] back, we all know what she can do. Her skill is still phenomenal at the age of 37. The energy she brings as well, she’s always a great character in the team. Then the skills and experience of Marizanne [Kapp] and Dané [van Niekerk], it’s awesome to have them.”

Kapp remains one of the most decorated all-rounders in the game. She is currently ranked fifth in women’s bowling and fourth among the all-rounders. Kapp has also taken the second most wickets as wicketkeeper in women’s T20 internationals (T20I), with 19 wickets.

Skipper Laura Wolvaardt, meanwhile, arrives in England in peak form after finishing the five-match T20I series against India last month as the leading run scorer with 330 runs, the most by any woman in a bilateral T20I series.

Ranked third in the T20I batting rankings and second in one-day internationals, she has become the anchor around which the Proteas’ batting order is built.

The return of pace bowler Ismail was arguably the biggest selection story of the squad. Ismail has come out of international retirement to strengthen the Proteas’ campaign, bringing one of the most respected fast-bowling reputations in women’s cricket.

She ended her 16-year career with 317 wickets in 241 internationals. In T20Is specifically, she claimed a national record of 123 wickets in 113 matches.

Ismail was, and still is, widely regarded as one of the fastest bowlers in women’s cricket, regularly surpassing 120km/h.

“You’ve got to keep bringing in young players for them to gain some experience and to develop into seniors and experienced players,” said Wolvaardt. “But at the same time, I think experience is invaluable, especially in T20 cricket. To have the likes of Marizanne Kapp back, who’s played so many games of cricket and is able to sum up conditions quickly and really help that bowling group and share what she knows is super vital.

“We know what to do to make those finals, so that’s a good thing. We’ve had a lot of chats about what happens when we get there again and how we’re going to maybe go about it a bit differently.

“It’s just about taking it one game at a time, not expecting to make the final, just focusing on every game and really staying present in the moment. Hopefully if we find ourselves in that position again, we can be a bit more calm.”

Final preparations

The squad departed on 25 May and are set to sharpen up with a camp in Arundel. This includes three training games against top-ranked Australia between 31 May and 4 June.

SA will then face Ireland on 6 June and New Zealand on 9 June in official warm-up fixtures.

South Africa is in a tough pool with Bangladesh, India, Netherlands, Pakistan and Australia. They will open their campaign against Australia on 13 June at 3.30pm South African time. DM