Western Province Women ready to take on Free State Knights

The excitement is up as World Sports Betting Western Province Women are set to kickstart the 2024/25 season this weekend.

The Girls in Blue will welcome the Free State Knights to WSB Newlands in the fresh and exciting new Cricket South Africa Hollywoodbets Pro Series.

Claire Terblanche's charges will kickstart the season with the Hollywoodbets Pro 50 on Saturday and finish off the weekend with a T20 match on Sunday.

Both matches are set to start at 10am.

Head coach Terblanche has drawn a picture of the mood in the camp ahead of the season opener.

"It is a new season and the team's looking really good. They're looking strong, they're looking fit, they're hitting the ball nice and cleanly," said Terblanche.

"We've had a perfect off-season and a really good pre-season, and we also went on a pre-season tour to see where we are with our options and things like that.

"So the team is looking strong and we're hoping to start strong now this weekend and I think what we can expect is hard-hitting, smart cricket, thinking cricket and a team that is going to step up game by game not to prove a point but to play a really good game of cricket and to excite spectators and to excite ourselves as a team."

Terblanche knows the importance of setting the tone this season with a winning start at home.

'WE'VE GOT TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY'

"It's important to kick off really well, especially with a home game. Knights is a team that can surprise you so we've got to be on top of our game ball by ball," she said.

"So every ball we face, every ball we bowl, every ball we take in the field we've got to be on it, we've got to be present, we've got to take responsibility in the field with the bat and with the ball.

"So we're really looking forward to having our Hollywoodbets Pro Series being kicked off as a home game and I think it's something special, to be honest."

With a new tournament sponsor Hollywoodbets coming on board, Terblanche says this move is a step in the right direction for women's cricket.

"It's really there, we are so ready to start the season and having a tournament sponsor like Hollywoodbets on board, it just creates a more professional in inverted commas air about our league," she added.

"So we still play the 50 over on the Saturday and the T20 on the Sunday but we can take pride in knowing that we're actually the only league that has a title sponsor.

"So having that behind us is again making history within our women's space."