Chetty keeps cool at top
IN A world cup in which Mithali Raj has rewritten the batting record and Jhulan Goswami set a bowling record, Trisha Chetty added her name to the leaderboards in Taunton this week.
She rose to the top spot for most wicket-keeper dismissals in women’s one-day internationals when Chamari Polgampola edged Dane van Niekerk to her gloved hands.
Going into the semi-final, Chetty has 134 dismissals, one ahead of Rebecca Rolls, the former New Zealand player.
Of those, 92 are catches and 42 stumpings.
At 97 ODIs, she may not join the growing 100-catch club in this world cup, but she is likely to get very close to the milestone.
Speaking in the run-up to the record, Chetty pleaded ignorance of her stats.
“I need to talk to the bowlers about giving me some catches,” she said with a laugh on finding out that was inching towards the 100 mark.
Chetty keeps to one of the strongest, most varied and quickest bowling attacks.
“Fiery” would be a term to apply to Shabnim Ismail and Marizanne Kapp, the pacers, and even Dane van Niekerk, the leg-spinner. They’re tough on themselves and on their teammates.
Fortunately for the team, Chetty has learnt to anticipate them well over the years.
She reads them from the hand and knows their in-swingers, away-swingers, slower ones and bouncers better than most.
They even come to her for advice, she says.
For the fast and fiery South African bowling attack of Marizanne Kapp and Shabnim Ismail, Chetty is always ready to lend a ear.
“I’ve been playing them a long time. I would love to stand up to them, but they’re too quick for that.”
Having made her international debut back in 2007 as a 19-year-old – “I was more agile that time!” – she isn’t one of those who remembers every match.
“I know I’ll remember my 100 if I make it,” she quips.
Because that is one of the numbers missing in Chetty’s stats.
She has 2 393 runs from 88 innings, with 16 fifties and has been a part of four of South Africa’s top seven partnerships, but there’s no hundred.
She started out batting as low as No 8, but rose up the order to open for much of her career.
Recently, with South Africa looking for blistering starts, she comes at first drop.
Her calmness is a useful trait to have after the breathtaking, high-risk game of Lizelle Lee at the top. “Getting to 50s and 60s wasn’t hard; pushing on from there was. That’s where I stumbled. People outside would think it’s a concentration thing, but it’s not. I’m more of a rotator.
“So when I’m at 60s and 70s, there are not enough overs for me to still rotate. So I need to push on and go to fourth gear. And I’m always stuck in third gear,” she candidly told www. icc-cricket.com.
Chetty’s other challenge is to soak up the responsibility of being a senior player and everything that comes with it.
A self-confessed, happy-golucky girl who’d like nothing more than the company of her mother and to travel to the Caribbean, she has had to find her way back into the side after a three-month suspension last year for disciplinary issues and code of conduct breaches.
“We were out for a while. Shabnim (Ismail, who was also suspended) and I thought about it and worked really hard to get back into the side.
“We worked twice as hard, not just on the field stuff, but off the field, to be in a professional side,” she says.
In a team of superstars, it suits Chetty just fine to keep flying under the radar. But, going into the semis, she and the team know there is a lot in her hands.