‘It’s been a long, tough journey’ – Kapp hits 100-wicket mark in ODIs
The 28-year-old medium pacer got to the landmark when she sent back Hayley Matthews in the first over of South Africa’s first ICC Women’s Championship ODI against the Windies in Bridgetown on 16 September.
“I started out more as a batting all-rounder in this team and now I find myself as a bowling all-rounder,” she joked. “It’s been a long, tough journey. I remember when I first started, women’s cricket was nowhere on the map and now look how far we’ve gone.
South Africa win the first ODI in Barbados by 40 runs!
— ICC (@ICC) September 16, 2018
Marizanne Kapp claims 3/14 as West Indies are bowled out for 161, Shemaine Campbelle top scoring for the hosts with 46. 58 from Sune Luus had earlier led the visitors to 201/9 off their 50 overs #WIvSA pic.twitter.com/bVtIPbXLp4
“It’s exciting times for us, it’s good to see some of the South African girls now also reaching all these milestones that you see some of the other bigger nations’ players reach. It’s an awesome feeling and hopefully this is just the beginning.”
The win in the first ODI has put Dane van Niekerk’s team in a good position to push for a first-ever ODI series win in the Caribbean.
Congrats @kappie777 on taking 100th ODI wicket. The recent form of @ProteasWomen trio Kapp,@zella15j and @danevn81 in Kia Super League makes me think South Africa will be a huge threat in the upcoming World T20 https://t.co/aZM2KZdvQY
— Alex Blackwell (@AlexBlackwell2) September 17, 2018
“I was a little bit nervous in the previous game especially on these wickets. You really have to work extremely hard because it’s quite low and slow and then the heat also plays a big factor as well. I think Klaasie (Masabata Klaas) stepped up brilliantly, that was one of the best spells I’ve ever seen her bowl,” said Kapp.
“It just shows you that there’s depth in our team, we just need to give people more opportunities because you never know what they can do. I can’t wait for the other two (Ayabonga Khaka and Shabnim Ismail) to come back. If all of us can fire together, no one will be able to play us.”
Marizanne Kapp scalps three in four deliveries
Happy as she is with the 1-0 lead, Kapp wants the team to be cautious going forward, especially keeping in mind the firepower the Windies possess. It’s important to not just win series, but as many matches as possible – direct qualification for the ICC Women’s World Cup 2021, after all, is at stake.
“It was so important for us to start off on a good note and I think we by no means played the perfect ODI, but we still came out on top so that’s really good to see from us,” she said. “Hopefully we can correct our wrongs tomorrow and end up on the winning side again.
“The IWC is very important, we didn’t play our best cricket over in England so we have to make sure that we get all the points that we can over here.
“Luckily we play most of the subcontinent teams at home in this round so these points will be very important for us. If we can go home with a series win first of all, and then taking all the points that we can, it will be brilliant for us going forward.”