Denise Reid heads women's selection panel

Denise Reid, the former South African allrounder, has been appointed the new convenor of selectors for women's cricket. Reid replaces Geraldine Smith, who headed the panel for two years. She takes charge just months before the Women's World Cup gets underway in Australia in March.

"I return to women's cricket at a difficult time when we need to select a team that will represent South Africa at next year's ICC Women's Cricket World Cup in Australia," Reid said. "I need to sit down with my two fellow selectors to formulate a strategy on how we are going to take women's cricket forward.

"We have a number of young players who need to be blended in with the older players for them to gain experience at a higher level. We shall also be building on the experiences that they gained on the recent tour of England."

The other members of the panel include the national women's team coach, Noor Rhode, and Northerns Cricket Union Women's team coach, Khomotso 'Volvo' Masubelele. Their first task will be to pick a 22-member squad to attend a training camp at the High Performance Centre at the University of Pretoria from December 28-30.

Reid, who represented Western Province, played one Test and 29 ODIs for South Africa between 1997 and 2002. She finished with 12 ODI wickets, with career-best bowling figures of 3 for 7, incidentally on debut, against Ireland in Dublin in 1997.