EXCLUSIVE | Sacrifices are the reason behind Annerie Dercksen’s rapid rise, says batting coach Baakier Abrahams

BARELY a year into her ODI career, South Africa’s newest star – all-rounder Annerie Dercksen – has taken the cricket world by storm.

Having impressed with raw pace with the ball and unmatched power with the bat, the 24-year-old has developed at an exponential rate over the past 10 months, as she is now one of the key figures in the Proteas Women squad.

On the recent tour of Sri Lanka in the Tri-Series against the hosts and India last month, Dercksen finished as the leading run-scorer with 276 in four innings, including a maiden century and two half-centuries, as she displayed maturity despite being relatively new to the format.

Batting coach Baakier Abrahams told Independent Media on Tuesday in an exclusive interview that Dercksen’s rapid growth and maturity boil down to the sacrifices she continues to make in search of improvement.

Dercksen has travelled to the Eastern Cape to fine-tune her batting ahead of the West Indies tour, a migration that the right-handed batter had done last year before the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup.

“As we speak, she’s in Gqeberha again leading up to the West Indies series,” Abrahams said.

“She’s got to take a lot of credit. The sacrifices she’s making to one, train, two, how coachable she is, and three, how quickly she transfers what she’s doing in training, and being brave enough mentally to then go and do it in the game...

“I think the century she made, she came in under pressure.

“That’s probably the biggest thing walking in at number seven, to have the maturity to understand the game situation, yet still play her game in terms of what she’s been training and the execution of skills.

“When you put the three parts together, that’s probably the most pleasing component.”

With Marizanne Kapp returning to the squad for next month's West Indies tour, having missed the Sri Lanka trop, many wondered how that would then impact the batting order and where Dercksen bats.

However, Abrahams provided clarity, emphasising that the plan is for Dercksen to have the skills to bat anywhere from opening the innings to being lower down the order.

“The approach that we took when we came together, we committed to saying we want to be able for her to have a skill-set to bat anywhere between one and six, without attaching a number to her,” said Abrahams. 

“Her ambition is to get into the top-order, but for me, anywhere between one to six is where we based her development and her skill-set on playing any of those roles.”

While the young Dercksen forced her way into being a regular in the playing XI with her performances, youngsters Karabo Meso and Miané Smit are also on a similar mission.

Meso, being a wicket-keeper batter, would have to unseat the experienced Sinalo Jafta to be a regular in the playing XI.

Abrahams revealed that the competition between Meso and Jafta is healthy for the team.

“The nice part of it is that it’s creating healthy competition, and whichever way coach Mandla (Mashimbyi) feels he wants to go, we’re making sure that the players are all developed from a skill-set and the mindset point of view to fulfil the roles,” he said.

“Karabo and Sinalo have to fight it out.

“That’s very good and healthy for the team and for the squad in terms of the development, where the team can go, reaching new heights and breaking records, which is what we want to do.”

The women’s team have three ODIs and three T20Is in the West Indies from June 11-23 as the World Cup looms.