Tazmin Brits: Chasing Big League Dreams and Setting High Standards for 2024

The dust has finally settled post the ICC Women's T20 Cricket World Cup where the Proteas Women’s side suffered defeat in the Final at the hands of New Zealand.

Tazmin Brits who has been in scintillating form for the national side was named in the ICC T20 Cricket World Cup Dream Team.

"I am a bit shocked in a way. When I did it last year for the first time and I was jeepers how am I going to match that again. How am I going to have a World Cup where I'm scoring runs but to do it again was great. In a way it is still a bit unreal but I have set expectations of myself now,” Brits told SportsBoom.com.

The Big Leagues

Following the World Cup, many would have thought Brits would be picked up by overseas franchises but unfortunately it was not to be as she is currently in South Africa with her new local franchise the DP World Lions.

Brits was asked if she has any aspirations to play in the big leagues and follow in the same footsteps as her national teammates Laura Wolvaardt and Marizaan Kapp.

"Look I am going to be honest and upfront. Ofcourse I do...I have been trying to get in any of those leagues, whether it's the CPL [Caribbean Premier League] or the Smash [Super Smash] in New Zealand. I have literally tried everything I possibly can and I don't know what more I need to do to get into those leagues."

Batting Mentality

Brits takes us through her approach with batting and the change in mentality over the years. At the World Cup she got the 2nd most runs behind teammate Wolvaardt with 187 runs at an average of 37.40.

"I don't think my approach has changed much but maybe I have matured in the cricket sense. Matured in understanding what are my strengths at weaknesses.”

I do still try to remain as fearless as I can, but before last year's World Cup there was a bit of doubt...if you don't score you might lose your position and get dropped. But after last year's World Cup, I gave them a reason why they shouldn't drop me and a lot of the time when you play fearless cricket you are more confident and automatically the runs come more."

Playing alongside Wolvaardt

Brits and Wolvaardt have been regular names as openers for South Africa and they have complimented each other very well the last couple of seasons. They were the driving force with the bat and ensured the side was in a good position on the scoreboard.

"[Wolvaardt] she is quite experienced although she is young. She plays in all these leagues so she knows a lot of the bowlers, which also helps me. We got different types of techniques from each other but I also think we complement each other well.”

T20 World Cup Final

South Africa featured in consecutive World Cup Finals. They gave Australia a shock defeat in the Semi FInal to book a place in the Final against New Zealand. Both these teams have never won the T20 World Cup.

"With this recent World Cup, I must admit we did the hard yards in beating Australia in the Semi [Final]. I wouldn't say New Zealand is a walkover but I do think they should've been or were the easier team to beat. I think prior to the game [vs New Zealand] everyone was confident in a way and maybe we didn't stick to the basics and were just not good enough on the day."

"Cricket, especially T20, is quite a funny game and it's literally anyone's game on the day no matter what country you are from."

Impact of Paul Adams

Paul Adams was brought in to assist with the spin bowlers and has since found his purpose as the motivational guru with inspiring poems for the teams before games.

"I am not a bowler but I have heard from Lefty [Nonkululeko Mlaba] and other spinners that he is quite an experienced coach. He doesn't really look to change much with the bowlers. Again this what I heard from the other bowlers. But outside that, he is actually quite a character. He brings a positive vibe in the camp, every single game before we walked onto the field he always had these poems."

"I made a nice little joke, I said where do you get these poems from Google.com or something. Because they were proper poems and he printed photos and took off his shoes and said you need to be grounded. A lot of the time when someone voices something like that, a seed gets planted in your head and you realise you have to be in the moment, be present, be grounded and really it's a privilege to play this game. You start to appreciate more things but he is impressive I must say."