Dane van Niekerk has been ruled out of South Africa‘s tour to New Zealand after picking up a calf injury. The former captain was on her first away trip since reversing her retirement last year but missed the first match and will not take part in the series as a whole.
Anneke Bosch, who has not played a T20I since November 2024, has been called up as her replacement.
The news is a blow for van Niekerk, who is hoping to be considered for South Africa’s T20 World Cup squad after missing the last two tournaments. Her wife, Marizanne Kapp, is also not in the squad as she recovers from illness.
Van Niekerk, a veteran of 110 ODIs and 91 T20Is, as well as one Test, was dropped from South Africa’s squads in 2002 after failing fitness tests – she did not make the running time trial of two kilometres in 9 minutes 30 seconds – and announced her retirement in March 2023 after being left out of South Africa’s T20 World Cup squad.
Since retiring, van Niekerk featured briefly at the WPL but made a proper return to the domestic game for South African provincial team Western Province in 2024. She was included in a national training camp ahead of the 2025 ODI World Cup but did not make the final squad and continued playing locally as she made her case for a return. The South Africa comeback came in December 2025 in a home series against Ireland.
The series in New Zealand consists of five T20Is and three ODIs, which form part of the Women’s Championship. The T20Is are being played as double-headers with the men’s matches, where South Africa have another injury concern. Batter Jordan Hermann is out with a hamstring injury but no replacement has been named.
