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ICC WOMEN'S WORLD T20

November 2, 2018

Dan Van Niekerk

Gros Islet, Saint Lucia

Q. South Africa are one the few teams that have played West Indies recently. And you've had two unofficial warm-up games as well. But how happy do you feel for the preparations for the team?
DANE VAN NIEKERK: Our preparation has been good. We spent a good month training hard for the tournament - so it's been really good. Obviously conditions are challenging because they are a lot different than what we're used to. But like I said, we had a sneak preview of the conditions, and it just gave us the opportunity to fine tune our plans. So we are really excited for the opportunity to play here in West Indies. And we have encountered from place to place a lot more different conditions than what we would expect versus, like, Barbados, (indiscernible), Trinidad. It's an amazing experience. And I think the team is just taking in everything at the moment and hopefully everything comes together for us when it counts.

Q. You're quite experienced, grouped up with the men's game the last few years. What are your views on having the Women's World T20 separate from the men's?
DANE VAN NIEKERK: Yeah, I think it's due and it's well-deserved. I think the growth of women's cricket has shown that. And it deserves the time and we know (indiscernible) like that. The way it's grown it's been obviously as fast -- you have to pinch yourself to see how quickly it's grown. And the entertainment factor is there now where -- bigger hits, quicker bowlers, it's a lot more exciting -- athletic players. I think it's well-deserved for women's cricket at the moment and hopefully we can do justice to the tournament.

Q. The South Africa team itself has been posting some really good results in the last few years. Would you think this is your best chance to win an ICC women's tournament?
DANE VAN NIEKERK: I think the team we have is the best we've had before, and the players within the side are a mixture between experienced, young and exciting players. So, yeah, it is our best chance to win. It's up to us if we want to â€“ we need to perform how we know we can.

Q. You spoke about your younger players. What has been your message to those girls who are going to play in such a big tournament for the first time?
DANE VAN NIEKERK: I think the biggest thing is the fearlessness. The younger ones are fearless. They don't know quite yet who is bowling at them or who they're facing. It's exciting for me to see and watch them go about their job because they just play the ball, they don't play -- when you play as long as we have you start knowing the players and you know who is bowling at you, I guess the aura a player has around them. But the young ones don't have that.

And it's something, actually some of our senior players have taken away from them, it's just play the ball. And I told them so far just to have fun. Cricket takes you to amazing places and what better place to play than in the Caribbean.

Q. You talked about playing in the Caribbean, you're now a citizen. (Laughter). (Indiscernible). See your family, know you're back. What do you make of last night's warm-up game, even though that was just an unofficial game?
DANE VAN NIEKERK: That was brilliant.

Q. Is that the biggest crowd you've had since you've been playing?
DANE VAN NIEKERK: Yeah, it was close to one of the biggest ones. And I think the atmosphere was the best I've played around. Just the atmosphere, it felt like an official game. I'm not going to lie. I know it was India-South Africa so it was quite daunting. I got a bit nervous there at the end. Kept on telling myself it's a warm-up game, but with everyone around it just made for a really good cricket match. And then obviously with the West Indies-England game, the way the Windies women played, it just shows you what the team can do when a crowd gets behind them.

Q. (Indiscernible), how are you preparing to use the system? Are you guys experienced in using the DRS? How do you prepare (indiscernible)?
DANE VAN NIEKERK: Not at all. We're not experienced at all. This will be my first time. I'm trying to keep all the bowlers calm because I think Lizelle is the only one who used it and she used it for opposite reason at, I think it was the semifinal, as she thought she hit the ball. Meanwhile actually she didn't hit the ball, it missed the stump.

So I'm trying to keep everybody quite calm because as a bowler you always feel something's hard. So we had a bit of a chat about it. It's going to be a new experience but we're excited for that. In the past we felt like we got a few hard ones. So hopefully we can use the DRS to our benefit.

Q. Just on that, as captain is it your call when to take it or do you bat your ball? I think I want to go for --
DANE VAN NIEKERK: We spoke to obviously the keepers in Trisha and Lizelle, they're going to play a massive role. They're going to see if it's going to hit or not. We said if you feel like it's really farfetched, just don't go for it. But I'll back any player, if they want to use it. It's not there just for me to use it or to make that decision. We are a team.

So if you feel it's out there, probably go up. But like I said, I guess the keeper is going to be the most important player for those decisions.

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