Devnarain reflects on SA U19 women's recent T20s against Namibia and Eastern Storm

The South Africa U19 Women participated in a series of unofficial T20 matches against the senior Namibian Women’s team and the provincial side Eastern Storm at Willowmoore Park in Benoni in the first week of July.

These matches were crucial for providing game time and a platform for the young squad to showcase their talents as head coach Dinesha Devnarain fine-tunes her team ahead of the ICC U19 Women’s T20 World Cup, hosted by Malaysia in 2025.

The series commenced with a thrilling two-run victory for South Africa against Namibia. Top-order batter Jemma Botha's explosive 36 off 19 balls set the stage, while legspinner Seshnie Naidu's impressive four for 17 helped restrict Namibia to 140/8 in their 20 overs, falling just short of the home side’s 142/9.

The team continued their momentum with a dominant performance against the Eastern Storm, securing a 96-run victory after posting 189/4 in 20 overs. Diara Ramlakan's unbeaten 90 off 53 balls, laced with 13 fours, highlighted the squad's batting strength while seamer Fay Cowling also made a significant impact with the ball, claiming two for 15.

In South Africa’s third game, the SA U19s achieved a 17-run triumph against the Eastern Storm after posting 108 all out in 20 overs, led by Lethabo Bidli’s late 23-ball cameo for 26 runs, before Nthabiseng Nini stood tall for the bowling attack to limit the Storm to 91/7 in their allotted 20 overs.

Reflecting on the T20s, Coach Devnarain emphasised the importance of match experience and playing style: “Overall, it was good. I think it's always good to have game time. What was great is that we played against an international women's team and a senior provincial women's team. It was good to go and play the brand of cricket that we want to play.

“We want to fine-tune in terms of combinations and looking at our batting order, who's going to bowl in our power play, the middle overs, and who's going to control the death period. So overall it was great. It's really important that we focus on the brand of cricket and have that big goal of the World Cup in 2025.”

The practice matches also revealed areas of improvement for the junior outfit, particularly in the fourth and fifth games against Namibia, where the hosts faced defeats. Despite Botha's 48 off 34 in the fourth match, Namibia chased down the target of 110 with ease, winning by six wickets. The fifth match saw Namibia posting 127/7 and then bowling out the SA U19s for 82 in the 18th over. Naidu's three for 23 was a standout performance, but it wasn’t enough to secure a win.

The sixth and final match, against the Eastern Storm, was abandoned during the first innings, with the SA U19s on 66/3 after nine overs.

Devnarain acknowledged the value of these challenging matches: “It's always good to win. We were dominant against Eastern Storm, and Namibia women gave us a proper challenge and we enjoyed that. We took lots of those learnings into our KPI sessions and then into the execution of the next game.

“The conversations after the week-long camp become imperative, and the skills that we need to address. That's the exciting part about it, now we get to know the areas where we're going to improve and how we measure them so that in our next series or camp, we get a lot better.”

The series also saw notable individual performances, with the talented batting duo of Ramlakan and Botha leading the run-scoring charts. Ramlakan accumulated 141 runs, including her standout 90*, while Botha amassed 139 runs across the series. On the bowling front, Seshnie Naidu emerged as the top wicket-taker with nine wickets, proving to be an instrumental figure in the team thanks to her consistent performances with the ball.

Devnarain praised her players: "Diara and Jem utilised the opportunity of middle time to really make it count. Diara is very thoughtful in her approach, while Jem is aggressive and smart. Their performances were crucial for us.

"Seshnie has been bowling really well, hitting good areas consistently. Having a legspinner of her quality lifts the team's morale," she concluded.

South Africa under-19 Women Squad (T20 Series against Namibia and Eastern Storm)

Lethabo Bidli (Central Gauteng Lions), Jemma Botha (Western Province), Fay Cowling (Central Gauteng Lions), Jae-Leigh Filander (Western Province), Janicke Janse van Rensburg (Northerns), Simone Lourens (Northerns), Shanel Madurai (Kwa-Zulu Natal Coastal), Neo Molefe (Central Gauteng Lions), Shelfa Mukhari (Limpopo), Seshnie Naidu (Kwa-Zulu Natal Coastal), Nthabiseng Nini (North West), Diara Ramlakan (Central Gauteng Lions), Kayla Reyneke (Western Province), Mieke van Voorst (Easterns), Diedre van Rensburg (North West), Ashleigh van Wyk (Easterns), Chanel Venter (Northerns), Jane Verhage (Northerns),