'It can be tough to do both skills full out' but Kapp will do it for South Africa
With a limited time left in the game, Marizanne Kapp is focusing on how much she can still do and not how much she shouldn’t
Firdose Moonda03-Oct-2024If you, like me, have wondered what the point of women playing one-off Tests – often with no red-ball domestic structure to help them prepare – is, Marizanne Kapp has the answer.”That 150 against England, when we were in so much trouble, changed the way I approached batting,” she told ESPNcricinfo. “Just prior to that, I started working a lot with [former New Zealand men’s international] Kruger van Wyk, who is our fielding coach. We just worked on a few mental things and upped my game. I used to be someone that had to hit and bowl a million balls before games and I really worked hard to taper down on that so that by match day I am not so fatigued. I’ve also really worked on just being a little bit more aggressive and if it’s in my area going after the bowlers.”The match Kapp is referring to took place in June 2022 in Taunton and was South Africa’s first Test in more than seven years. They were put in to bat and found themselves 47 for 4 when Kapp got to the crease. She batted for most of the rest of innings – four hours and 26 minutes in total – and faced 213 balls for her 150, and then everything changed.Related
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In 20 ODIs after that knock, Kapp scored a staggering 836 runs at an average of 59.71 (compared to a career-average of 34.33) including two of her three hundreds. In 23 T20Is, she scored 486 runs at 27.00 (up from an overall average of 20.98), improved her strike rate from 103.58 to 130.99 and decreased her balls-per-boundary rate to 5.62 from 11.73 in the three years prior to that.That means Kapp has gone from scoring a boundary every two overs, to one every over, which in the shortest format makes a massive difference, and proves she has joined the women’s power-hitting revolution. “I’ve really started to back myself in hitting the ball, whether it’s my first three balls or whether I’ve faced 30 balls,” she said. “These days you have to adapt, be more aggressive, and keep on working on your game. I feel like in T20 cricket or even in ODI cricket if you look, the girls are starting to reach scores of 280, 300 and above. It’s not the same as years ago where you [could] just take your time.”Kapp’s own role is also not the same as it was a few years ago, where she slotted into South Africa’s middle order after the likes of Lizelle Lee, Dane van Niekerk and Mignon du Preez. All three are now retired, which presented South Africa with the opportunity to play Kapp up the order at No. 3, where she has been since January last year. And that wasn’t the first time she found herself in such a key batting position. She was initially put there in 2017 by Surrey Stars in the Women’s Super League in England. Kapp was the competition’s fourth-highest run-scorer, behind Rachel Priest, Suzie Bates and Ellyse Perry, and later had some games in the same position in the WBBL and WPL.”I’m a big believer in the leagues even though it takes so much out of me. I feel like the leagues are probably the reason that I’ve really started to put in big performances in international cricket,” Kapp said. “The leagues bring a different level of competitiveness. You bowl and bat in different areas in a game in these leagues. You get used to playing in semi-finals and finals with massive crowds. I’ve learned how to finish games in leagues. If you look at our international schedule, even if you play all the games, how many times will you find yourself in a situation where you have to finish off a game? It doesn’t always work out that way. In the leagues, I’ve been in that situation a lot.”
“I take most of my wickets in the powerplay and we need me to strike and almost protect those younger bowlers a little bit more, so that they can come in after the powerplay, where they can have their four fielders and bowl to their plans”Marizanne Kapp
Though Kapp is an advocate of prioritising leagues in the schedule, like most cricketers she still thinks there is “nothing better than playing for your country and playing in World Cups”, especially as South Africa continue to improve.Last year, they reached a final for the first time even though “we probably didn’t play our best cricket” but “managed to rock up on the day of the semi-final and performed”.This year, there’s expectation growing at home that they can go one better, even though they are without a key member of their last squad, Shabnim Ismail, who has retired. Without her, South Africa have lost significant bowling experience and quality and Kapp, once again, finds herself in a position of increased responsibility.Along with her higher batting role, she also expects to continue opening the bowling. “I still believe I have a massive role to play with the ball. Experience is something you can’t buy and we saw that with Shabnim leaving, it leaves a big hole in our bowling line-up,” Kapp said. “Our bowling line-up has always been world-class but we’ve had a few changes. I take most of my wickets in the powerplay and we need me to strike and almost protect those younger bowlers a little bit more, so that they can come in after the powerplay, where they can have their four fielders and bowl to their plans.”Kapp’s understanding of her new-ball job is spot on. Since the start of 2023, she has taken 70% of her total wickets in the first six overs – 48 at an average of 16.31 – and it is also where she is most difficult to get away. She goes at 5.36 runs per over in the powerplay, and 7.94 from overs seven to 20. Her ability to find swing upfront continues to make her a big threat and in T20s, she is open to bowling her full complement of overs early. “If it’s going well and it’s my day, we’ve been letting me bowl three or even four overs sometimes. If you can get one of those big sides on the back foot, you’re halfway there.””It just took me one or two knocks against the big sides and my confidence just doubled”•BCCIBut that doesn’t mean Kapp hasn’t taken stock of what she’s putting herself through. “If you have to look at allrounders at the moment, your big allrounders all over the world, none of them really still opens the bowling and bats top order like what I’m doing currently,” she said. “So even if I was younger, it’s a big ask and a tough ask in international cricket.”Especially for someone like her, who has also had health struggles. Kapp had Covid-19 four times and has also missed matches with other illnesses. She thinks some of it is down to her diet as a vegetarian, but has seen improvement since the team added a doctor to the permanent support staff.”We’ve had the doctor for quite a while and she’s been guiding me and helping me and making sure that my food is sorted,” Kapp said. “I’m getting older and my body is getting older in the sense that if you look at the amount of cricket I play, for example. This is going to be my tenth year of Big Bash and it can be tough to do both skills full out.”It can also be rewarding and with a limited time left in the game – Kapp is thought to be eyeing next year’s 50-over World Cup as a swansong of sorts – she’s focusing on how much she can still do and not how much she shouldn’t. “It just took me one or two knocks against the big sides and my confidence just doubled. Now, I believe I can do it as a batter as well, not only as a bowler.”