The Proteas depart for Pakistan on Saturday with a clear vision for the two-week tour, but a lot of uncertainty about the future.

This week Laura Wolvaardt was announced as interim captain of the national side.

The Proteas are headed up by coach Hilton Moreeng, whose contract expires at the end of the year.

After Moreeng being in charge of the Proteas Women for 11 years, his contract expired at the conclusion of the Women’s T20 World Cup in February, but Cricket South Africa (CSA) CEO Pholetsi Moseki and Director of Cricket Enoch Nkwe extended his contract until December 2023.

According to reports from ESPNcricinfo, the extension of Moreeng’s contract played a role in previous interim captain Suné Luus stepping down from the role. Publicly she’s said she made the decision so she could focus on her game.

Despite Moreeng’s continued success with the side – which includes taking them to the country’s first-ever senior international World Cup final earlier this year – a group of players reportedly wrote to CSA to express a desire for change in the coaching setup.

The Proteas have been in a two-week camp, in the build-up to their tour to Pakistan, where discussions around the uncertainty and unhappiness in the group have taken place, according to Moreeng, who denies there is any divide between himself and the players in the change room.

“I’m not sure about the divide … There are challenges here and there and there are internal things that we discussed because as you can see the landscape has changed now, the country’s become professional,” Moreeng told the media on Friday.

“But regarding the changeroom being divided, it’s not something that has happened.

“There are two tours coming, that are back-to-back. Whatever needs to be discussed to be sorted out, that is being sorted out.”

Moreeng stayed mum on what exactly the discussions were about, but remained optimistic about performances on the field despite a backdrop of uncertainty.

“Discussions happen above our pay grade and those decisions will happen. We need to still stay focused on the job at it. As the coach and the players, we have a job to do. It’s for us to focus on the job while everything happens.

“When we get to a cricket field, and even when we had training during the camp, once we started with cricket, we could see that everyone is still focused on what needs to happen.

“It’s not an unhealthy situation where you have to have discussions, as tough as it may be at times, but it shows that the maturity of the environment and we’re moving as a team and as a country is in the right direction.”

Suné Luus has stepped down as interim captain of the Proteas Women. (Photo: Shaun Roy / BackpagePix)

Dealing with criticism

Asked whether he felt frustrated about the framing of his position as head coach, Moreeng revealed that it’s something he has gotten used to.

“It’s our country … It’s one of those you can’t control. That’s why our supporters are always passionate. They always keep you on your toes,” he said.

“I think [it’s important to] not lose focus on where you want to be because, the conversations will happen, the chats will happen and as soon as we get onto a field, there’s a high demand on expectations and regarding results.”

Moreeng was close mouthed when speaking about whether he wanted to continue his role as head coach into a 12th year, although admitted he was happy with his progress with the national team.

“I’ll just be proud to say we left [the Proteas] in a better place and handing over the job to the next guys coming after us to be able to take it forward,” he said.

“When you look at the top three teams in the world now, we’re closing the gap, and then there’s going to be more cricketers coming through you can help with sustainability of the team going forward, but overall what people say now, how they feel I think it’s well within their rights, but it’s very frustrating yes; but that’s the country we live in.”

The coach said his goal, since taking up the mantle as head coach of the side in 2012, has been to see the professionalisation of the sport in the country as well as to get close to winning a World Cup. Both have been achieved this year.

“It’s always been one of our visions, to give ourselves a chance to win a World Cup and secondly to have the league that has just been launched now in a professional way to have more cricketers coming through,” he said.

Coach Hilton Moreeng believes the Proteas Women are united ahead of their tour of Pakistan and are focused on the game, not what is going on around them. (Photo: Lefty Shivambu / Gallo Images)

One day at a time

“It’s always been a passion of mine, like I said, at the end of the day, you only deal with the hand that you’re dealt with. We have two tough tours coming up. I think for us, the focus is going to go into that. And regarding the future, we take it one day at a time.

For the two-week tour of Pakistan and the incoming tour of New Zealand immediately after that, Moreeng has a captain who he describes as having “a very good cricket brain and [is] a very disciplined cricketer”.

But after that, when the Proteas head Down Under for a multi-format tour against the World Champions Australia in the new year, it’s likely a new captain and coach could head up the national side. DM