Marizanne Kapp sets retirement talk aside as her performances improve with age

Marizanne Kapp of South Africa bowls in the 3rd Women’s One Day International against Sri Lanka at JB Marks Oval in Potchefstroom on 17 April 2024. (Photo: Sydney Seshibedi / Gallo Images)

By Keanan Hemmonsbey

29 Aug 2024

Despite being the oldest player in the national side, Marizanne Kapp remains a world-beater on the cricket field.

Marizanne Kapp is the Proteas women’s premier all-rounder and has been for a long time.

Her skill set with bat and ball is so vast that she needs to fulfil only one of the two roles and still demand a spot in the playing XI. And she’s done so a few times in the past season.

Kapp’s bowling load was managed with a view to extending the 34-year-old’s international career – a career that a few years ago saw her primarily deployed as an opening bowler and lower-order batter.

But with the team’s batting needing to be strengthened and Kapp and the team looking to protect her body, she’s been deployed as a top-order batter — a role she also carried out with great success earlier in her career.

For an insight into Kapp’s quality, only former spearhead Shabnim Ismail has more wickets in either white-ball format for South Africa.

With the willow, only Laura Wolvaardt – among current players – has scored more runs than Kapp in One Day or T20I cricket.

But the national women’s cricket side was almost permanently without both her services.

Staying on

Kapp wanted to retire from international cricket earlier this year, but after thoughtful conversations and careful consideration, stayed on.

“It was just a mental rollercoaster the last couple of years with the amount of cricket I played,” Kapp said to Daily Maverick. “Coming out of Covid and then everything that happened with Dané [van Niekerk] with her retirement, [and] a few of my teammates retired.

“Mentally it just became too much.”

Kapp is married to former Proteas captain Van Niekerk, who abruptly announced her retirement after the T20 World Cup last year in which South Africa made the final. Van Niekerk was dropped from the squad over fitness issues just before the tournament.

“I had a conversation with our team doctor (Tshegofatso Gaetsewe),” Kapp said.

marizanne kapp cricket Marizanne Kapp of South Africa bowls in the 3rd Women’s One Day International against Sri Lanka at JB Marks Oval in Potchefstroom on 17 April 2024. (Photo: Sydney Seshibedi / Gallo Images)

“She’s had a massive influence on my career and probably the way I’ve been playing the last couple of years. I spoke to her a lot.

“She especially asked me to think the retirement through and then I spoke to the Director of Cricket [Enoch Nkwe] and he also just asked me to wait and not make decisions — because everyone knew I was a bit emotional.

“He just asked me to hang on a bit and not go through with it, just give it some time.

“I’m really happy now that I did that and I listened to our team doctor and the DoC and obviously my agent was involved. They guided me and helped me and I made the best decision for myself and I didn’t act on my emotions.”

Class batting

The decision turned out to be a masterstroke for Kapp and her game. With less bowling, her batting has gone to another level.

Kapp scored her maiden ODI century in 2013. She went more than 10 years before scoring her second against Pakistan last year then doubled up and scored another against India in June this year. She averages just under 60 in the format this year.

She also averages close to 33 in T20I cricket in 2024, a massive jump from her career average which is a smidgeon over 20.

Outside the work Kapp has put in behind closed doors, she also believes being given more responsibility higher up the order has helped her game.

“Initially I did quite well when I batted at No 3 and four for South Africa early on in my career, but workload-wise it got too tough to continue,” she said.

“Back then we literally played back-to-back games and as an all-rounder, it just became too hard.

“After moving a bit lower in the order I just lost a bit of confidence, but I’m really happy to be back in the top order now. It suits my game and I can contribute a lot more towards the team.

“We have been struggling a bit with batting as a unit so I have a lot to offer the team.”

marizanne kapp cricket Marizanne Kapp of South Africa in action with the bat in the 3rd Women’s One Day International against Sri Lanka at JB Marks Oval in Potchefstroom on 17 April 2024. (Photo: Sydney Seshibedi / Gallo Images)

But the initial rejuvenation of her international batting career, interestingly, came in the red-ball format. In the first innings of a Test match against England in 2022, coming in at No 6, Kapp rescued the side from 45 for the loss of four wickets to 284 all out by striking a magical 150 off 213 balls.

It remains South Africa’s highest score in the format.

“That [innings] gave me the confidence to realise that I really am a good batter and I can compete against the best,” Kapp said.

“Just before that, I started working a bit with Kruger van Wyk — who’s now with the men’s test side.

“We upped the level of intent with which I trained, especially batting-wise.

“I’ve always been someone who probably did a lot of basics and didn’t want to go out of my comfort zone and work on power hitting or scoring more quickly.

“Working with him, we just changed that mindset where if it’s in my area, I’m going for it, whether I’ve faced three balls or whether I faced fifty balls.”

Kapp’s incredible season that almost wasn’t has been rewarded by nominations for women’s ODI player of the year and women’s player of the year at the CSA Awards ceremony set for next week.

Next chapter

Despite coming close to ending the international chapter of her career, Kapp confirmed that there was still a lot of international cricket for her to play. She has set her sights on the T20 World Cup in October and a 50-over World Cup next year.

“I would like to play for as long as possible,” Kapp said. “I’m really enjoying my cricket at this stage.

“I’m very confident in my skills and what I can offer the team. As long as I am contributing and helping my team win, I would like to play for as long as possible.

“I really enjoy T20 leagues and competitions, but there’s nothing like representing your country at World Cups. It’s definitely something I want to continue if I stay injury-free. I’ll go for as long as possible.”

If Kapp continues to get better with age, as she has so far, her performances at the aforementioned global tournaments are sure to be world-beating. DM

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South Africa

Staying on

Class batting

Next chapter