TKR player profile: Du Preez brings leadership, runs

Former South African all-formats captain Mignon Du Preez will add experience, leadership and most importantly, her run-scoring capabilities to the Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) in the Massy Women`s Caribbean Premier League (WCPL). The second edition of the annual tournament bowls in Barbados on August 31 before ending in Trinidad.

Wicket-keeper/ batter Du Preez debuted as a 17 year old in 2007 in both One-Day Internationals and T20 formats. She played 154 ODIs and scored an astonishing 3,760 runs at a healthy average of 32.98 with two centuries and 18 half-centuries.

In T20s, she played 114 matches scoring 1,805 runs notching seven half-centuries and a top score of 69 runs. In her lone Test match against India in 2014 she scored a century.

Du Preez's passion and devotion to the game did not go unnoticed and she took the reins as captain in 2011 and led her country to 46 ODIs, 50 T20Is and one Test match.

She cherished her role as skipper and her team performed commendably under he helm as they reached their first Women's World T20 semi-final in 2014 and secured ODI series wins in India and Bangladesh.

The top order batter retired from ODIs last year April and from T20s in December with the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games being her last tournament for her country. She completed her 16-year international career as the leading run-scorer for South Africa in ODIs and third in T20s.

Since retiring, Du Preez has been plying her trade in the T20 circuit and she is certainly one of the most sought-after women cricketers. The right-handed batter has played in the Hundred Women (England), Big Bash (Australia), FairBreak Invitational 2023 (Hong Kong) and now she will make her debut in the WCPL.