Devnarain Hails Cricket South Africa’s Vision

With each passing ICC tournament, South Africa’s female cricketers are rewriting the script with their U19 team now following the example set by the senior team.

The Proteas have reached back-to-back ICC Women’s T20 World Cup finals, runners-up in 2023 and 2024 after the greatest sustained run of results in their history, now the U19s have followed suit, making it to the final of the ICC U19 Women’s T20 World Cup 2025, beating Australia by five wickets in the semi-finals to do so.

It extends their perfect run in Malaysia, winning all three group games, as well as their only completed Super Six match.

For coach Dinesha Devnarain, a former Protea herself, the impressive form is the result of a long-term vision by Cricket South Africa which is now starting to pay off.

She explained: “The moment is bigger than I could ever imagine. As a nation, I must give credit to Cricket South Africa, the policies that they have put in place, it’s easy to say, ‘what are we doing right now?’ but it’s probably due to things that have been done over the last five to 10-year plans.

“I don’t think it would have been possible without good guidance and good governance. For us, as an U19 team, in our second World Cup, most of these girls have never travelled out of the country, it’s been a rollercoaster, but talk about adaptability with a young group. What a moment, what a privilege and definitely what an honour. I’m the most thankful coach right now.”

South Africa seized the initiative from the off against Australia, taking early wickets before Ashleigh van Wyk took over in the latter stages. Her four for 17 helped restrict Australia to 105 for eight, but the target of 106 was the biggest South Africa had faced.

That did not faze them however, with Jemma Botha attacking the chase with a quickfire 37 that ensured they were always in control. The positive approach is part of what has made this South African team so successful so far according to Devnarain.

She said: “The brand of cricket requires an aggressive cricketer, one that is not scared to throw the first punch.

“We have visualised positive game talk, positive game play. We knew that if we wanted to win a World Cup, there was no room for error. We always spoke about 7-nil, we want to go 7-nil, go to that final, win the final and bring it back home and it’s a story we’ll be able to tell for many years to come.”

Devnarain also credits the growth and continuing maturity of her players throughout their 18 months of preparation and during the tournament, saying: “The team I had 18 months ago is not the team you are seeing now on television. There was some teenage drama to begin with, that goes without saying. What stood out is the presence of the leadership team, the discipline that the team put in and grew into and how we left no stone unturned. If something came up, we tackled it.

“It’s about staying present in the moment and making them realise the impact of things off the field and how that can affect what happens on the field. Credit goes to the leadership team and to the girls themselves for buying into our plans and position as a team, the trust is strong here.

“When it comes to the final, we just want to continue our processes and let the results speak for themselves.”