Marizanne Kapp ruled out of Commonwealth Games 2022

The South African team has suffered another blow before starting with their Commonwealth Games campaign as their star all-rounder and one of the key players in the team, Marizanne Kapp has been ruled out. She recently left the England tour midway to travel back home due to an emergency situation in the family.

Cricket South Africa had hinted that Kapp’s availability for the Commonwealth Games, which starts this week, was unsure. It was confirmed by the Proteas head coach Hilton Moreeng, after the conclusion of the T20I series, that Kapp would not return back to Birmingham for the global event. England won both the T20I and ODI series by 3-0 and tied the Test match as South Africa suffered a setback before their CWG campaign.

Moreeng refuted that the remainder of the team had been negatively impacted by the absence of numerous senior players throughout the tour.

“It’s sport. These kinds of things happen. Sometimes you have plans as a team, as coaches, as an organization and then players feel that on certain days they’ve had enough,” Moreeng was quoted by ESPNCricinfo.

Kapp played the one-off Test against England and scored a magnificent century, recording a score of 150 (213). She then went on to play the three-match ODI series and claimed 147 runs in the three games. Unfortunately, she had to fly back home before the T20I series as her brother-in-law met with a major accident and was in critical condition in the ICU. Her niece and nephew had also fallen sick while she was a part of the games during her time in England.

“You have to respect and celebrate the times that they had with you because they were incredible cricketers and these kinds of things happen because when you look at where they are in their lives, the different stages of their lives, they have to make at times decisions that are good for them, as people first, before they can worry about anything else,” he added.

We also are a squad in transition, we’re not going to lose sight of that: Moreeng

After the Test match, dynamic batter Lizelle Lee announced her sudden and shocking retirement from all formats of the game with immediate effect amid a dispute over the issuance of a NOC for her to participate in The Hundred, England’s franchise-based unique 100-ball cricket tournament. Shabnim Ismail, a key player in South Africa’s bowling attack, also missed a few games during the tour due to injury concerns.

“So we respect their decisions but at the end of the day it gave opportunities to youngsters to be able to put up their hands. We’re very excited by what we’re seeing. Yes, the results aren’t there yet but we’re taking a lot of things, a lot of homework to be done, because bilateral tours like this give you an indication of where you are as a squad. We also are a squad in transition, we’re not going to lose sight of that. If you look at our bowlers, the ages they’re at, youngsters are going to start coming in. They’ve given us good years,” Moreeng further stated.