Proteas Women captain will lead the team to Sri Lanka for a tri-series against India and Sri Lanka next month.
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Cricket South Africa announced on Tuesday that the Proteas Women's team will be back in action next month when they tour Sri Lanka for ODI tri-series against hosts Sri Lanka and India from April 27 to May 11, 2025.
This will mark the return to action for the Laura Wolvaardt-led team having last played in December during the inbound multi-format tour of England Women.
The tri-series will also mark the newly appointed head coach Mandla Mashimbyi's first tour in charge of the team having only overlooked proceedings during the inbound tour of England during the festive season.
Proteas Women will return to the subcontinent once again having had multiple outings in Asia last year as the team prepared for the 2024 ICC Women's ICC World Cup where they lost the final to New Zealand Women.
With the ICC Women's ODI World Cup taking place in India in October, the exposure to the subcontinent conditions and playing against two of the best subcontinent teams in Sri Lanka and Indian Women will serve as good preparation for the team.
All matches will be held at the R Premadasa International Cricket Stadium, with the three teams playing each other twice before the top two sides meet in the final on May 11. This tour will also mark South Africa’s first trip to Sri Lanka since the 2017 ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup Qualifiers where they narrowly lost by one wicket to India in the final.
Head coach Mandla Mashimbyi stressed the significance of playing in the subcontinent ahead of the global showpiece.
“When you look at India and Sri Lanka in their own conditions, you would rather play those teams there so you can understand what is needed for you to succeed in those types of conditions," said Mashimbyi. “Hopefully, we can take the learnings out of these tours straight into the World Cup in October and be a lot better at executing the plans and executing from a skill point of view as well."
Mashimbyi and his support staff aim to use the Tri-Series to refine combinations and provide opportunities for players.
Proteas Women's coach Mandla Mashimbyi.
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“It's going to be key for us to really find the right combinations going into the World Cup after that. This tour will give us an opportunity to check which combinations work best for those conditions," said Mashimbyi.
“Also, we want to give opportunities to players that I haven't seen much of. It's a good tour to give those players opportunities. At the same time, we still want to win, so it's important to find that balance between exposure and ensuring we have a team that will fight till the end,” he added.
South Africa heads into the series looking to improve on recent ODI results against Sri Lanka and India. The Proteas shared a drawn series against Sri Lanka in April last year, while India dominated their last bilateral series with a 3-0 win in Bangalore. However, Mashimbyi insists his team’s focus will be inward.
“Any team playing at home or in their conditions becomes a threat. We don't want to focus much on them; we want to focus on what we need to do to compete," he said.
"The message I want to get through to our coaches and players is that we are going to focus on ourselves. Let’s prepare as best as we can and make sure we're ready."