In a first, married couple bats together in ICC event

Saint Lucia, November 13

South Africa captain Dane van Niekerk and Marizanne Kapp have become the first married couple to bat together in an ICC tournament. The two shared a 67-run stand during South Africa’s seven-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the women’s World T20. Van Niekerk had married her teammate Marizanne Kapp in July this year. The announcement was made by Kapp on Instagram. According to reports, most of the couple’s teammates had attended the wedding. Van Niekerk and Kapp are the second set of current international teammates to get married after New Zealand’s Amy Satterthwaite and Lea Tahuhu got married last year. Van Niekerk and Kapp made their international debut within two days of each other during the 2009 World Cup. Van Niekerk made her debut against West Indies on March 8, and Kapp on March 10.

On Monday, the couple was involved in a 67-run stand for the third wicket as South Africa beat Sri Lanka. The couple also picked up their respective 50th T20 International wickets in the same match. Van Niekerk has played 98 ODIs (1946 runs) and 70 T20 Internationals (1538 runs). Kapp has 1626 runs and 106 wickets from 96 ODIs. In 67 T20Is, she has scored 700 runs and taken 50 wickets. — Agencies