Du Preez celebrates personal triumph with winning runs for Proteas in famous victory
For Pretoria's legendary women's cricketer, Mignon du Preez, the past weekend's victory over England in the women's T20 World Cup was a double triumph.
For Pretoria’s own women’s cricket legend, Mignon du Preez, the South African women’s cricket team’s match against England last weekend at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup was a day in which she immortalized her name in more than one way in the history books.
Du Preez, a born and raised Pretoria girl, celebrated her 100th appearance in the T20 format in the most memorable fashion imaginable. She hit a six and a four in the final over to get the Proteas home to a six-wicket victory over England with two balls to spare in their opening match at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in Perth on Sunday.
It was one of their most famous victories ever and their first over England in a major ICC event.
The Proteas had gone into a testing final over, needing nine runs off six balls from the experienced English bowler, Katherine Brunt. Du Preez had a new partner in another Pretoria girl, Sune Luus, and after a couple of singles the veteran took charge to hit the two boundaries that got them over the line.
After more than a decade at the top of the order, Mignon du Preez became the first South African woman to play 100 T20 Internationals in this match.
Second to skipper Dané van Niekerk on South Africa’s T20I runs chart, the right-hander has so far amassed 1 666 runs, including seven fifties and a strike-rate in excess of 100.
Her reliability with the bat earned her stints in Australia’s Women’s Big Bash League and England’s Super League.
Not only has the 30-year old made a name for herself out in the middle, but as a former captain, Du Preez enjoyed success, notably when she led the Proteas to their first-ever T20 World Cup semi-final in 2014.
“Growing up I always wanted to represent my country and to reach the milestone at the World Cup is pretty special. It really is a dream come true,” Du Preez said before the game.
Du Preez now finds herself playing in her seventh T20 World Cup and strongly believes South Africa have every chance of booking their place in the final on 8 March at the MCG in Melbourne.
“I definitely think this is the year. It just feels different. There’s an excitement around the group that this is the year we take it one step further and bring the trophy back home,” she concluded.
The South African women’ next outing is against the group outsiders, Thailand, on Friday and they then finish their group with matches against the Windies and Pakistan.
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