Excitement builds as Proteas set to host 'special' T20 World Cup

Western Province duo Nadine de Klerk and Delmi Tucker are looking forward to South Africa hosting next year's much-anticipated T20 Women's World Cup.

The T20 Women's World Cup will be held for the first time on African soil from 10-26 February 2023, and it'll be the first senior ICC World Cup hosted in SA since 2007.

The Proteas women are in Group 1 alongside Sri Lanka, Australia, New Zealand and Bangladesh and they will open the tournament against Sri Lanka at Newlands on 10 February.

"This is really big for me," Tucker told News24 at their T20 Women's World Cup Trophy Tour in Canal Walk.

"We want people to come and watch more of the women's game so hopefully, with all this marketing, they will come out and support."

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The Proteas have played in all T20 Women's World Cups since 2009, finishing as semi-finalists in the 2014 and 2020 editions.

However, they will be feeling added pressure as this World Cup could be a swansong for several senior members and the expectation on the women to perform in familiar conditions will be significant.

Proteas all-rounder De Klerk admits that there will be an expectation to do well, but she hopes people come and support the tournament in February.

"I think when you're the home team, there's a little bit more pressure because people expect you to do well," De Klerk told News24.

"We won't try and think about it too much. I think it's just the excitement levels and just people to our country. In our country, women's cricket is not as big as in Australia and England and other countries just to get some youngsters or actually watch the girls play and realise that they can take it up as a career as well.

"I