MATCH STORIES
Follow UsAs a former Javelin thrower who has won Gold for South Africa at many sporting events, Tazmin Brits threw everything at India’s bowlers at the start of her innings, but it did not come off. It could have been curtains for her early had Jemimah Rodrigues hit the bullseye. However, she survived the initial two overs of pace, where the ball was moving around, and emerged stronger out of it.
Lucky for Brits, her skipper Laura Wolvaardt kept the scoreboard ticking with her blistering strokeplay, as she has done all tour be it in One-Day Internationals (ODI) or the one-off Test. Her 22-ball 33 looked as though she was batting on a different wicket. Watching Wolvaardt, Brits perhaps realized it would be best to allow the ball to come to her instead of plodding at them, and did exactly that once Harmanpreet Kaur introduced spin.
It was against Pooja Vastrakar that she initially struggled to get bat to ball, and it was her whom she smashed down the ground to get to her 10th T20I fifty.
She accessed the area behind the wickets well, often shimming back and using her bat swing to good effect. To show off her prowess on the off side, she also cut the ball well behind square. But when the time came to unleash herself, she did not shy away from smacking them at the opposite end also, clearing the fence with utmost ease on more than one occasion.
Marizanne Kapp, who came in at three, initially timed the ball far better, while Brits toiled hard for her runs more often than not. But once Kapp was dismissed after putting on nearly 100 for the second wicket, Brits knew she had to bat through, given that she was the set batter. Her dismissal at that juncture could have seen her side short by 10-15 runs, if not more. The fact that Richa Ghosh dropped a sitter certainly helped her case. In fact, had India fielded and caught better, the visitors may have even struggled to get past 150, but they have paid the price for allowing a set batter off the hook on more than one occasion.
South Africa may not return the favour.
Brits has been in excellent form in T20Is in recent times, though. She had her best year in 2023 – a year that saw her well and truly cement her place. She slammed 489 runs at 37.61, smashing four fifties in 15 innings along the way. Only Wolvaardt scored more.
It is not easy to replace someone of the stature of Lizelle Lee, who retired two years ago, but that has turned Brits’ career around as she has now been given a longer run at the top, and boy, has she cashed in on it.
The road for the Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 in Bangladesh in October has begun for the Proteas. “We do have our eyes on the T20 World Cup later this year,” Wolvaardt said at the toss.
She knows the heartbreak of finishing second in the final and will hope to leave no stone unturned to buckle down and get South Africa their maiden World Cup title. The men, too, fell short in Barbados recently and will certainly be looking to their Women’s side to soften the blow of their painful loss.
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