Duchesses, previously known as M van der Merwe XI, are a South African women's cricket team that competed in the

Women's T20 Super League The Women's T20 Super League is a women's domestic Twenty20 cricket tournament organised by Cricket South Africa. The tournament began in September 2019, with four teams taking part; these teams were renamed for a second competition in December ...

. The team has no geographical base, and was instead made up of some of the best players from across

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. Their best T20 Super League finish came in the first edition of the tournament,

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, when they were runners-up. For the 2022–23 Women's T20 Super League, they were replaced by a South Africa Under-19 team in the competition.

History

Duchesses were first formed in 2019 to compete in the

, a tournament designed to provide more competitive cricket to the best players in South Africa. For the

first edition The bibliographical definition of an edition is all copies of a book printed from substantially the same setting of type, including all minor typographical variants. First edition According to the definition of ''edition'' above, a book pr ...

of the tournament, the side was named after its coach, Martelize van der Merwe, becoming M van der Merwe XI. They were captained by

Suné Luus Suné Elbie Luus ( , ; born 5 January 1996) is a South African professional cricketer, who plays for the national cricket team as a spin bowling all-rounder. Early life and education Luus was born and raised in Pretoria. Even when she was a t ...

. M van der Merwe XI won two of their three matches in the first tournament, therefore finishing second overall. Batter

Lizelle Lee Lizelle Lee (born 2 April 1992) is a South African cricketer who played for the South Africa women's national cricket team from 2013 to 2022. She has played for Western Storm and Surrey Stars in the Women's Cricket Super League, as well as Melb ...

was the second leading run-scorer in the tournament, including hitting 92 * in the opening match of the competition. For the following edition of the tournament, which took place two months later in December 2019, the side was named Duchesses. Luus and van der Merwe were retained as captain and coach, respectively. The side again won two of their three matches, and finished third overall on Net Run Rate. The third edition of the tournament took place in December 2020. Martelize van der Merwe remained as coach of the side, and retained Luus as captain in the draft that took place prior to the competition, as well as picking fellow

stars

Mignon du Preez Mignon du Preez (born 13 June 1989) is a former South African cricketer, who was the women's team captain in all three forms of cricket, Test matches, ODIs and T20Is, from 2007 to 2018. A right-handed batter and occasional wicket-keeper, du ...

and

Sinalo Jafta Sinalo Jafta (born 22 December 1994) is a South African professional cricketer who plays as a wicket-keeper and right-handed Batting (cricket), batter. Career Jafta made her Women's One Day International cricket (WODI) debut New Zealand women's ...

. Duchesses won one match in the tournament, beating Starlights by just one run, but finished bottom of the table on Net Run Rate. Luus was the leading run-scorer in the tournament, with 150 runs including two half-centuries. For the next edition of the tournament, the 2022–23 Women's T20 Super League, Duchesses were removed from the competition, being replaced by a South Africa Under-19s team.

Seasons

Women's T20 Super League

Honours

: ** Winners (0): ** ''Best finish:'' Runners-up (

)

References

{{Cricket in South Africa Women's T20 Super League Women's cricket teams in South Africa