A leg-spinner, who has amazingly transformed into an all-rounder, Dane van Niekerk, was a child prodigy. She was the first South African female cricketer to be inducted into the men's side at the Eastern Province cricket academy. At the age of 16, she made her debut for the Proteas in the 2009 World Cup, starting off with impressive figures of 3/11. Over the next few years, her batting started coming to the fore and she began to feature regularly batting at higher positions. This was evidenced in 2013, when she backed up her fifer (that included the first hat-trick by a South African) with a solid 128-run stand for the sixth wicket a month later. A promotion to opening the innings in T20s too paid rich dividends, with a then world-record opening partnership of 163 with Lizelle Lee. It was almost a no-brainer that she was made South Africa's captain across formats in 2016 when Migon du Preez gave up the role. Having become only the seventh player to have scored 1000 runs and taken over 100 wickets in Women's ODIs, van Niekerk played a crucial role in South Africa's campaign in the 2017 World Cup - which ended in heartbreak against England in the semis - with 15 wickets as the tournament's highest wicket taker. A high utility player going around playing the T20 leagues around the world, van Niekerk remains the fulcrum around whom South Africa's hopes lie.
