Proteas face new red-ball challenge in England, looks to grow women's Test cricket

Proteas women's coach Hilton Moreeng says his side is looking to adapt as quickly as possible ahead of their historic Test against England next week.

On Monday, South Africa will play their first Test since 2014 as they take on England at the County Ground in Taunton.

It's a new and exciting challenge for most of the Proteas team as it'll be the first time in eight years they'll play red-ball cricket. Five players in the Proteas women's squad have played a Test, but for the rest, it's a whole new ball game.

Moreeng says that patience is required for his side to combat the longer format of the game.

"Moving from white ball to red ball, it applies a lot of patience. We as a team identified that that's where we're going to be required here and will take it one day at a time," Moreeng told reporters on Thursday.

"Now we have to take it session by session, so it's a longer concentration and more taxing on the body and mind. So we need to make sure that we are technically sound to be able to make sure we can make an impact in the game.

"Everyone is starting to understand how they fit into the puzzle and how we can take this forward. At the end of the day, they need to enjoy it because it's a format they haven't played for a long time and for some, it'll be their first time."

Moreeng says that there'll be facing a lot of new challenges in red-ball cricket and hope that their team adapts.

"The ones that are battling with it is our batters, we've just come off a white ball series against Ireland," said Moreeng.

"What has helped is the prep to Ireland. A lot of them haven't played Test cricket, but from our side, the bowlers have adapted much better and there are still areas we can improve from what we seen.

"With the Duke ball that they're