Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 62, September 2014 | Página 21

From
eading
L
ront
the F
running & sport

Seeing victory against
New Zealand at this
year’s Women’s
Twenty20 World Cup.

Celebrating her half
century against Sri
Lanka in an ODI Series
win last year.

Images: Courtesy Champions Uncovered & Mignon du Preez

When Mignon du Preez
smashed 258 runs in an under-13
provincial match, hitting 16 sixes
and 25 fours with a strike rate of
well over 200, a bright future was
already on the cards for her in
women’s cricket. Four years later
she donned the green and gold
against Pakistan, scoring her first
ODI half century on debut, and
today she captains the national
team. We chatted to the Proteas
skipper about her training and
where she’d like to see women’s
cricket going to.

Ma

– BY LAUREN VAN DER VYVER

M

ignon (25) will be the first
to admit that her playing cricket came about
by accident. “My dad was a mini-cricket coach
and my brother played, so I went along to
support. One day, one of the boys couldn’t
make it, so my dad asked me to help. I was
about four years old and I scored the most
runs, and that’s where it all began.” She
would go on to play with boys throughout
primary school, and then finally a girls team
at Hoërskool Zwartkop in Pretoria. She had
already earned Northern Gauteng colours
when she was 12, and in 2007, in her matric
year, the national selectors came calling.

wasn’t a lot of touring, but I had to fit it all in
while taking textbooks to games.”

She was initially left out of the Proteas side
that year, but when another player had to
withdraw due to injury, Mignon was given her
chance and knew she had to impress quickly
to cement her place in an established squad.
“It’s difficult to break into the team, and even
harder to stay there, but the pressure didn’t
get to me and my 50 runs against Pakistan at
home was a perfect way to introduce myself,”
she says, adding that fitting in national team
duty was a challenge the next few years. “At
varsity, I balanced my B.Com and Honours in
Marketing with my training. At that time there

Most recently, the women’s side has been
part of the national academy set-up, which
has also boosted pre-season preparations. For
the last 12 weeks, the squad has balanced
two hours of training per morning in the nets,
to sharpen skills, with meetings to discuss
game scenarios, and three times a week the
squad work on strength in the gym, with two
sessions of pilates as well. “It’s productive and
it’s essentially a 9-to-5 day,” says Mignon. “We
often go on 5km runs to keep fitness up, and
we do a lot of rowing, but shorter runs give us
that short, explosive power when we’re batting
or fielding. It’s all about turning at speed.”

Mignon’s prowess with the bat and agile
fielding capabilities made her an easy pick for
the selectors, and then on tour in England in
2011, she got her first taste of captaincy with
the then captain out injured. “I didn’t think I
had that knowledge, but my team believed in
me,” she says. “I eventually found confidence
in the role and I’ve continued to bounce ideas
off and consult others. It’s a work