- The Proteas women are preparing for their first game since March when they take on Pakistan next week.
- Proteas women's coach Hilton Moreeng is relieved to be back as they play three ODIs and three T20s in Durban.
- Skipper Dane van Niekerk and all-rounder Chloe Tryon are out of the series with Moreeng admitting it's a "big loss".
Proteas women's coach Hilton Moreeng is eager for their international return when South Africa host Pakistan in a limited-overs series in Durban.
The Proteas women will play their first game since their T20 World Cup semi-final loss to Australia in March last year.
The series, which consists of three ODIs and three T20s, will take place behind-closed-doors at Kingsmead.
While the Pakistan women's side departed for South Africa on Monday, the Proteas entered the bio-secure environment last Friday (8 January).
Speaking to reporters ahead of next Wednesday's opening ODI, Moreeng acknowledged that there might be some rustiness but believed the same could be said for their opponents.
"Rustiness will always be there, we can only prepare as much as we can. At the end of the day we know competitive cricket is at a different level but every player has played a bit of cricket, which is T20 cricket. We haven't been exposed to 50-over cricket since last year when we were in New Zealand," said Moreeng.
"We're in the same boat, they also haven't played cricket since the World Cup so it'll be good to see which team performs on the day."
The Proteas women will be without their captain Dane van Niekerk and vice-captain Chloe Tryon due to back injuries.
Moreeng admits it's a blow to the Proteas line-up, however, he is more than confident that his squad will prevail against Pakistan.
"It's a big loss because we're not sure how the year will pan out with the pandemic. You want to play your best players whenever there are opportunities," said Moreeng.
"If you look at it from a different perspective, this gives an opportunity for others to play and showcase what they can do, which only makes the team stronger."
Moreeng revealed that he had not made a decision on who will lead the Proteas but hinted that all-rounder Sune Luus was an option.
"We have discussed it, we know Sune Luus has done a very good job. It's a discussion that will happen closer to the time and an announcement will be made, but for now we are just making sure we can get everyone prepped and ready," he said.
Luus is no stranger to the role, having led the Proteas women in 10 ODIs and nine T20Is between 2017-2019.
The Proteas all-rounder is one of the handful Proteas stars who played competitive cricket in various T20 leagues since the global pandemic struck.
Moreeng sees this as a huge positive ahead of their limited-overs series against Pakistan.
"It was a huge positive having players compete in the various leagues, having them be in an environment where they can train. We could watch them play competitively, and if we have over eight of your 14 contracted players playing in these leagues, it's a plus," said Moreeng.
Cricket South Africa has only scheduled the Pakistan and England series' so far on the Proteas women's calendar and there's doubt whether the Proteas will be prepared for next year's Women's World Cup in New Zealand.
"It's safety first. Yes, we wanted to play, we just came back from a World Cup where we came close to the final," said Moreeng.
"We wanted the momentum to continue especially playing against top teams so we can improve our ranking.
"Ideally you want to play a lot especially building up to a 50-over World Cup... It's frustrating not to play a lot of cricket and it's been nearly a year since we've played and it's tough. We just look forward to getting back on to the park and we have enough match-winners in the group," he added.
"Yes there's talks of a couple of tours coming possibly so if all goes well we should get to play more cricket soon."
For a few of the Proteas women's players, this will be their first experience of the bio-secure bubble.
Over the past several weeks, Proteas stars have spoken about the challenges of living in the bubble with fast bowler Kagiso Rabada called it a "luxury prison" and skipper Quinton de Kock describing the experience as "unsettling".
"(Being) in the bio-bubble is a strange and difficult environment... The players haven't seen each other for a long time and they want to chat. Social distancing and masks and everything makes it very difficult. As a team, we can only control as much as we can."
Proteas women v Pakistan women:
ODI
20 January - 1st ODI at 10:00
23 January - 2nd ODI at 10:00
26 January - 3rd ODI at 10:00
T20I
29 January - 1st T20I at 15:30
31 January - 2nd T20I at 15:30
3 February - 3rd T20I at 15:30