South Africa's captain Sune Luus has called for more investment in women's cricket after a successful run by the South African team in the 2023 Women's T20 World Cup. Despite losing to Australia in the final, South Africa had their best-ever result in a senior global tournament, reaching the final for the first time and finishing as runners-up.
In a post-match press conference, Luus emphasized the importance of investment in women's cricket and urged Cricket South Africa (CSA) and other stakeholders to take action. She highlighted the success of women's cricket leagues in Australia and England, as well as the upcoming Women's Premier League (WPL) in India. Luus hopes that South Africa can create a women's version of the SA20 league to help develop depth in the national squad.
"We've been asking for a very long time for an SA League. I know it's budget constrained, and there's always resources and all those things, but we've given our girls the best chance we could have. And it's up to CSA and everyone involved to kind of make that happen and give it our best shot," Luus said.
Luus believes that investment in women's cricket is necessary for South Africa to keep up with other top cricket-playing nations. "If you look at all those leagues - they are in the top three nations, and that's why they're so good. That's why they have that depth, because they have leagues where overseas players come and play and you get used to playing with them and against them. That's something we really need to look at," she added.
Luus was impressed with the professionalism shown by the Australian team, which won their sixth Women's T20 World Cup title and completed a three-peat of titles for the second time in their history of participating in the competition. She praised the team's structures and pipelines, noting that everything is in order, which is something that South Africa is striving for.
"And I think we obviously look at the structures and, you know, want to see how we can do that best in our country as well. But obviously the best in the world for a reason. And we can only try and get better and better to knock on those doors to eventually beat them," Luus said.
Luus's call for investment in women's cricket comes at a time when there is growing interest in the sport. The 2023 Women's T20 World Cup was held in South Africa for the first time, and it attracted large crowds, including a sell-out crowd for the final. With the right investment, South Africa's women's cricket team has the potential to become one of the best in the world.