Cricket South Africa has praised the Proteas Women’s team for securing their spot in the ICC Women T20 World Cup, writes ANDRE HUISAMEN.

This comes after a third impressive victory on Sunday where the Proteas beat Pakistan by 17 runs in Sydney.

‘Congratulations to our captain, Dane van Niekerk, head coach Hilton Moreeng and all the players and support staff on their unbeaten run to date,’ read a statement from CSA acting chief executive Dr Jacques Faul.

‘It has been impressive the number of different players who have come up with the match-winning performance when it was needed. Not to forget the players who have achieved personal landmarks.’

South Africa remain undefeated at the World Cup after beating England and Thailand last week and have the chance to finish the group stages unbeaten if they get the better of the West Indies on Tuesday.

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‘We have had Mignon du Preez becoming the first South African, either male or female, to make 100 T20 International appearances followed by Lizelle Lee’s maiden T20 International century and the team posting the highest total in the Women’s T20 World Cup against Thailand and also the highest winning margin,’ continued Faul.

The Proteas Women will be joined by India, England and hosts Australia, who also qualified for the final four of the competition.

‘Let us also not forget their beating England for the first time in an ICC women’s tournament in either of the white-ball formats. The team is clearly in a very good space heading into what is going to be the biggest week in the history of women’s cricket in South Africa.

‘It will be wonderful if they can lead our nation in celebrating International Women’s Day by being in the final next Sunday,’ he concluded.