Luus finds freedom at the top

Sune Luus can remember a time when playing for South Africa was worth nothing. “With my career, it’s always hard to assess the first five years — we weren’t professional at all,” she states.

“There were two tours a year, there wasn’t really backing, and we were just there to make up the numbers. You have to commend the players from that era; they fought for what we have today.”

Luus and Ayabonga Khaka made their debuts in the same game against Bangladesh in Mirpur in 2012. Neither got paid, nor were their nine teammates. It took another year before six players were contracted by Cricket SA (CSA) — making them the country’s first professional female cricketers.

Luus was not one of them. She was still a 16-year-old child. “I was happy to be there; I didn’t pay much notice to anything. I loved going overseas and experiencing different cultures and countries.”

The year 2026 is a very different world for a women’s cricketer. “Nowadays, you see someone like Karabo [Meso] coming into the team at 17, the maturity levels she has to show, compared to what I had to show, it’s chalk and cheese,” says Luus.

“She’s coming in, she’s getting paid, there’s expectations, you’re literally doing a job — it’s not just happy-go-lucky any more.”

Teenage starlet

The 30-year-old Luus was a teenage starlet who went from being a leg-spinner who batted in the lower order, to becoming an all-rounder, then batted in the middle order, captained the Proteas, and is now an opening batter. “It was hard to do,” she says of the captaincy.

Primarily a stopgap, Luus led the Proteas 69 times, including at two World Cups and in one Test. It put her in the spotlight, something she wasn’t always comfortable with. “As a leader, there is always scrutiny and people who won’t be happy with your decisions,” she said.

“You’re trying to keep everyone happy, but there is no way that you can do that. There are always decisions that someone won’t like. Being captain for one tour, then for another, then for a World Cup, randomly, when you’re not supposed to be captain … ja, it was very unstable and I don’t think it was very healthy.”

Focusing on her career has meant missing birthdays, braais and anniversaries (“I’ve lost a lot of friends over the years. It is sad”) has put an even greater emphasis on Luus’s family, who have been a stable base for her.

It has also provided her with an understanding that sees her help her teammates.

There are ebbs and flows through a career as a cricketer. I’m playing freely. Coach Mandla has given us licence to play with freedom and take the game forward. You can’t do that if you’re being tentative. I’m just enjoying cricket at the moment

—   Sune Luus, Proteas all-rounder

“I want to take care of this environment; I feel like I’m reminding everyone to take care of relationships at home, with friends and family, because you spend a lot of time on the road. All those off-the-field things, I’m wanting to make sure everyone is okay and teach young players how to navigate that because [international cricket] is such a bubble and it can burst at any moment.”

Luus gave up the captaincy in 2023 after leading South Africa to its first World Cup final. She admits she now has more time on her hands. “You don’t have to be in all the meetings,” she smiles.

She is at a stage where she’s enjoying the game as much as at any stage in her career. Opening the batting in T20s has been more liberating than she thought when Mandla Mashimbyi first proposed it. “I’ve never been an opening batter in my life. No one had ever suggested that.”

She’s scored 397 runs in that position, including three half-centuries, and her strike rate sits at 135.9 — well above her overall strike rate of 112.

“There are ebbs and flows through a career as a cricketer. I’m playing freely. Coach Mandla has given us licence to play with freedom and take the game forward. You can’t do that if you’re being tentative. I’m just enjoying cricket at the moment.”