Edward Khoza: CSA groundwork yielding positive results

This after the SA U19 Women claimed a silver medal at the 2025 ICC U19 Women’s T20 World Cup in Malaysia, where they lost to back-to-back champions India.

Speaking to SABC Sport, Khoza commended all schools in the country who continue to run girl’s cricket programmes to help feed the domestic league and national team.

"Definitely, I think through every journey we embark on, this is confirmation that our strategies are in place and, as the players go out and conquer the world to reach finals, it just solidifies the work that has been done in the various spaces of our programmes," said Khoza.

"When you look at a person like Nthabiseng Nini, for example, or whether you look at Karabo Meso and the likes, whose journey started at the Hub environment, one needs to appreciate that the footprint for girls is very similar to the one for the boys.

"This shows in the established cricketing schools, so we rely heavily around the Hub programme to solidify and make sure they grow the space of what we're dealing with around the ecosystem."

Khoza shared a message of praise to head coach Dinesha Devnarain for leading the national team with dignity in their second attempt at the world showpiece.

"I'm superbly humbled by Coach Dinesha because, when we appointed her, there was a plan to it, and I remember when she came for an interview at CSA for the first time, she was not successful," he noted.

"But from there on, we said it's someone who we feel can play a role, and we made sure to play a supportive role in guiding her through the process, and when she later came on board in the high performance structure, you can see it was the right appointment.

"She's actually the right fit for this level for U19 as well as for our emerging team, and she wears her heart on her sleeve, and she works very hard.

"I want to just confer my sincere appreciation to her for the dedication and hard work she's put in behind the scenes, and led this environment.

"And we're quite appreciative of the fact that the support structure around her is predominantly female, with some having also played international cricket, so to see them achieving to this level and using their experience is testimony to the future of our cricket."

READ: CSA congratulates SA U19 Women n on historic T20 World Cup finish