In 1960, South Africa became the fourth national women’s cricket team to achieve Test status, making its Test debut against England in the same year. Although international women’s cricket has a long history in South Africa, due to a sporting boycott, there was a 25-year pause in international fixtures between 1972 and 1997. In 1997, South Africa made a comeback to the sport by taking part in the 1997 Women’s Cricket World Cup. The Proteas have made an appearance at every World Cup since then, reaching the semi-finals on two occasions – in 2000 and 2017.