Born on 14th May 1993 in Pretoria, Transvaal, Test, ODI and T20 International player for South Africa, Dane van Niekirk.
A right-hand allrounder who bowls leg-breaks, Dane began her career with Northerns in 2007/08 but by the following season was already playing for South Africa in ODI format. It is little wonder, for Dane is arguably South Africa’s greatest allrounder. Both her playing ability and her leadership are key reasons why South Africa is a team on the rise.
Dane has played 107 ODIs. She has taken 56 catches which is the highest all time for South Africa and sixth place overall. Her 138 wickets at 19.14 is third overall for South Africa. Let’s just toss in 2175 runs at 36.25. Catches, runs, wickets among the best ever and perhaps you will understand the proposal of Dane being South Africa’s greatest allrounder.
In T20 Internationals, the story is similar. Dane’s 65 wickets at 20.96 is just behind Ismail again as the second best ever for SA. She is “only” third best (equal) in catching with 25. Her run tally is the second best of all time for SA with 1877.
Dane has played only one Test match for South Africa, against India at Mysore in 2014/15. It completed the collection for her, having played in all three formats of the game.