Fourteen days of quarantine in an Adelaide hotel room has South African international Mignon du Preez bursting with energy for the Hobart Hurricanes' WBBL opener on Saturday.
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The vastly-experienced batter has been using her enforced isolation to hone body and mind before flying onto Tasmania to face the Melbourne Renegades at Bellerive Oval.
"Being stuck in a room for 14 days gave me a bit of hunger to get out on the park so I'm excited to join up with the team in the next couple of days," she told reporters via Zoom on Monday.
The Pretoria-born 32-year-old, who arrives in Hobart on Wednesday, has been making good use of a treadmill, bike and weights while also watching some of her upcoming adversaries taking part in the Australia-India series.
"Four days of Test cricket took a big knock out of the 14 days," she said.
"Being stuck in quarantine it was actually really nice to be able to watch some cricket and I really think we've got a good squad and a strong mixture of experience with a lot of exciting youngsters.
"I was looking for a new challenge and an opportunity to step outside my comfort zone and I think the Hurricanes will allow me to do that and I'm really excited about the journey ahead."
A right-handed batter and occasional wicket-keeper, du Preez made her international debut aged 17 and has since captained her country in all three formats.
A mainstay of the South African team, she has represented her country in 108 Twenty20 Internationals, 137 One-Day Internationals, and one historic Test match, accumulating 5312 runs across all three formats.
From being a foundation player for the Melbourne Stars in 2015, du Preez went on to play four consecutive seasons with the franchise from 2017 to 2021. In WBBL|06, she made 380 runs across 13 innings - including four half-centuries - at an impressive strike rate of 122.58.
Du Preez has one brief previous experience of Tasmania and is keen to use her considerable experience to assist newly-announced Hurricanes captain Rachel Priest.
"I've only played in Hobart once and it was basically in and out - we got in the day before, played the next day and then left - so I didn't really get to experience Tasmania so I'm really excited to be around a little bit longer and get to experience what Tasmania's all about.
"I've captained South Africa and being one of the most experienced players here and think I can lead without a title."
Rob Shaw
Heralding the impact of Tasmanian sport without saying "punching above its weight" is not as easy as it sounds.
Heralding the impact of Tasmanian sport without saying "punching above its weight" is not as easy as it sounds.
