Brits insists South Africa can win the World Cup
Tazmin Brits (below) is not only a hard-hitting international batter but also an outspoken advocate of women’s cricket in the country, so it’s little wonder there were shots fired when she was asked about the immediate future of a Proteas women’s side that seems to be at a crossroads.
The greatest generation of women’s cricketers this country has produced are still the core of the squad but have they gone past their peak given that the results now seem to be on a downward slide? How big is the gap in performance between them and the youngsters in the team who are just making their way in international cricket? Will South Africa ever manage to consistently challenge the top sides?
“The Proteas are good enough to win the World Cup but there is a fear of failure and we become too technical. There is playing depth but if you’re not going to give those players a chance then you’ll never know what they’re capable of. We can’t keep holding on to things that don’t work.
“Maybe some players will come back stronger after being dropped. I know I did when I was dropped for the first time ever in India, it was not a nice feeling and it made me very hungry. Our cricket has to become more professional, but we’ve got to win games to get that support, we have to make runs to get that respect,” Brits told Saturday Citizen at Senwes Park in Potchefstroom.
The former world junior javelin champion and owner of 15 T20 international caps for South Africa was at the announcement of Senwes as the new title sponsors of the North-West team she has captained to the provincial title in two of the last three seasons. It followed hot on the heels of a similar announcement made in Durban by HollywoodBets for the KZN Coastal team.
The road ahead for women’s cricket is long and the magnitude of the challenges they face in the journey to equality are obvious when one hears the figures revealed by Francois Strydom, the group chief executive of Senwes.
“The transformation of society only moves at a certain pace and partnerships like ours should have been signed earlier. But women’s sport in South Africa only enjoys 1.4% of all sponsorship money, 4% of media coverage and less than 20% of TV broadcast time. We can complain or do something about it, and Senwes decided to get involved and change it.
“We see the North-West team as being like the key tenant of a new shopping mall, once you get that tenant on board then others will come. This is not a sponsorship but a partnership; yes, we’re interested in results and they have been excellent, but we’re more interested in sticking to principles and each individual person is what is important,” Strydom said.
The rapid strides of the North West team shows what can be done though when talent is partnered with passion and backed by enthusiastic support and resources. Francois van der Merwe is the coach and he knows the Proteas cannot hope to compete with the fully-paid and contracted stars of England and Australia until the gap is closed between the national team and the semipro domestic structure.
“It’s been a long journey with this group to build this success, and they’ve shown great passion and determination to overcome all obstacles and become the number one team in South Africa. In 2011, when Jacques Faul was North West Cricket CEO, he asked me to coach the women’s team. At our first practice we only had four ladies and our first game was in two weeks time!
“We would practice in the cement nets in the corner of the ground where nobody could see us. Except one day the national team were having a camp here and the Proteas were all on their balcony looking down at us and laughing. I said to the team that in five years time we would take their places,” Van der Merwe said.