The Proteas Women begin their post-T20I World Cup journey with a two-week, six-match, tour of Pakistan next week.

There are a few regular faces missing in spin-bowling allrounders Dané van Niekerk, who has officially retired from international cricket, and vice-captain of the side Chloe Tryon. The latter has requested a leave of absence for the tour.

Nondumiso Shangase of the Proteas during the 3rd T20 match between SA Emerging Women and Zimbabwe Women at Groenkloof Oval on 31 August 2022 in Pretoria. (Photo: Lee Warren / Gallo Images)

It leaves a massive hole in the Proteas side. On the playing field and from a leadership perspective.

But in Dolphins allrounder and captain, Nondumiso Shangase, their replacement looks perfect.

Shangase was part of the Proteas’ setup between 2019 and 2021, having played seven One-Day Internationals and the same number of T20 Internationals, but failed to light up the scene before being dropped.

“[When] they dropped me, it was really painful,” Shangase told Daily Maverick.

“But I didn’t give up. I kept on telling myself that it will be fine. The only thing that I need to do is to work hard. And I did it. I really worked so hard.”

The heartbreak of being dropped from the Proteas’ squad affected Shangase mentally too, something she worked through with Dolphins and SA under-19 coach Dinesha Devnarain.

“Mentally I was not okay. I was telling myself that I’m okay, but it was hard. It was still sore in my heart,” the off-spin bowling allrounder said.

“But Coach D (Devnarain) helped me with that, she spoke to me and then helped me mentally how to deal with this because I felt like I failed.”

Nondumiso Shangase of South Africa during the third Women’s T20 International match between Momentum Proteas and Pakistan Women at Kingsmead Stadium in Durban on 3 February 2021. (Photo: Darren Stewart / Gallo Images)

Since then, the 27-year-old has put in the effort on the training field, hitting more balls than ever and rolling her arm over until her rhythmic routine was perfect.

It paid off for the Dolphins skipper as she ended last season’s domestic T20 competition as the leading wicket-taker with 13 scalps at an irresistible average of 7.69. She was also one of her side’s top run-scorers.

Along with Devnarain, Angelique Taai and Sandile Caluza at the Dolphins also helped Shangase perfect her craft.

“The only thing that changed [since being dropped] is the one-on-one training with the coaches,” Shangase explained.

“I attended more of that and then trained with the team, but the one-on-one training was more than before [being dropped].

“Coach [Devnarain] always told me you need to be specific about what you want to work on. I wasn’t just going to the nets to just bat, no. I needed to tell her what my plan of the day was and then work towards that.”

Witnessing history

The Proteas Women’s last competitive match was on 26 February this year, a date etched into the country’s cricket history. The final of the T20 Cricket World Cup, the first one a senior national team participated in, where the Proteas fell short by 19 runs to multiple format champions, Australia.

Nondumiso Shangase of South Africa wins her appeal for LBW against Ayesha Zafar of Pakistan during the 3rd Women’s T20 International match between Momentum Proteas and Pakistan Women at Kingsmead Stadium in Durban on 3 February. (Photo by Darren Stewart / Gallo Images)

The historic moment when South Africa reached the final, two days prior, by beating England by six runs, her former – and now current – teammates were at Newlands Cricket Stadium celebrating, while Shangase was equally jubilant at home.

“The way I was jumping when they won the semifinal match [against England], I was really screaming in the house, jumping,” she said.

“I was so happy. Because you know, it’s not them, it’s us. You can’t say they won, no. We won. As a South African, we won. I was so happy.”

Her longtime Dolphins teammate and Cricket South Africa Women’s T20 International Player of the Year, Nonkululeko Mlaba, was part of the celebration at Newlands.

The achievements of the left-arm orthodox bowler, who is the No 2-ranked T20I bowler in the world, has been a source of motivation for Shangase.

“I’m always happy when she does well. We stayed together for a while, she’s like my sister now.

“Whenever she does well… I know where she comes from and the journey she took,” Shangase, who hails from Inanda township, less than 10km from Ntuzuma township, from where Mlaba hails, said.

“When things happen like this, it’s really exciting to see. It’s really good and it does inspire me because I know where she comes from and where I come from.

“I see it as ‘if she can do it then I can also do it’, there’s nothing that can stop me from doing it too.”

Young Dolphin

Cricket wasn’t Shangase’s first passion. That was originally in the bigger, softer ball sports in soccer and netball, but a shove from her grandma toward the red-ball game soon had her infatuated with the intricacies of the sport.

“My uncle was playing cricket and I decided to join him and then from there my grandmother kept on pushing me to play cricket,” she said.

“Even if I came home crying and saying, ‘the ball hit me, Gogo, I don’t want to go back’. She would always say to me, ‘you must go back’.

“Even if I made excuses, when I came back from school, I would say, ‘Gogo, I need to wash my shirt’. She would say, ‘I will wash it for you, you must go’.

“So she was the one who kept on pushing me and pushing me until I fell in love with the sport.”

Women’s cricket has finally reached professional level in the country, with Cricket South Africa announcing and launching a professional women’s domestic league this week.

According to Shangase, this will inspire a renewed interest in the game for young players who will have a stable income to strive for in the game.

“It’s really exciting,” she said. “When you grow up your parents are like, especially us, black Africans, you need to get a job.

“Now we can say this is our job, so it will be easier [for youngsters to pursue the sport]. You’ll be doing what you love, and you’re getting money out of it, so it’s a nice thing, it’s exciting news for us.”

Being captain of the Dolphins since 2018, Shangase has worked with a fair deal of young players. Having developed into a consummate professional since her axing from the national team, her goal to be a role model for up-and-coming players is paying dividends.

“It inspires me when the youngsters are there and they listen, and some of them say ‘I want to be like you when I grow up’. It’s so nice to hear things like that.” DM