Brits grateful after receiving maiden contract

Top-order batter, Tazmin Brits is thrilled to become the latest Momentum Proteas player to be handed a maiden national contract for the 2022 / 23 season following the announcement by Cricket South Africa (CSA) last week.

Brits, who featured at the 2022 ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup, is part of the 15 players who are set to spearhead South Africa’s charge for the upcoming season that includes tours to Ireland and England, the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and the 2023 ICC T20 Women’s World Cup hosted in South Africa.

Brits and left-arm spinner, Nonkululeko Mlaba were the two new faces to make the contracted list.

“When I received (the news) about my first contract, I almost rolled my bakkie,” Brits began.

“Firstly, I am very grateful. I am blessed to have that (contract). It’s something that you work for long towards and it actually paid off, so it’s bit of a reward if I can put it that way and I am definitely thankful for it,” she added.

The 31-year old, who is also a former javelin junior world champion (crowned in Ostrava, Czech Republic in 2007), admittedly did not have the best debut World Cup campaign with the bat, managing a top score of 23 in South Africa’s group stage win against England.

Despite not reaching her goals at the crease, Brits insists she still benefitted a lot from her experience at the global showpiece where South Africa reached the semifinals, highlighting the sharing of the stage with teammates and opposition players she has a lot of admiration for.

“It would have been great if we got to the finals but just the overall learnings from the top players in our team and even playing against the likes of Australia, seeing people I have never played with or have never seen in real life,” Brits continued.

“I might be a Protea, but it was definitely something to be grateful for to be in their aura and to be around them, so I learnt a lot,” she added.

Before receiving her central contract this month, Brits notched up a total of 32 caps for South Africa, including 12 one-day internationals and 20 T20 Internationals, scoring 626 runs, including a high score of 70 not out in the shortest format of the game.

Heading into her first season as a nationally contracted player, the right-hander is eager to impress in the upcoming tours and tournaments for South Africa, particularly in T20 cricket.

“Since getting the contract, my work ethic hasn’t dropped, it has actually raised my game. I am a lot more excited; you want to do better to possibly maintain that contract,” the big hitter said.

“I am very excited about the Commonwealth Games, I have never played in the Commonwealth so that is something to look forward to, as well as the T20 (World Cup). Having it at home, I think it will be an advantage and hopefully we won’t lose in the semifinals, and we can actually win this T20 World Cup” she concluded.

Brits is currently in Tshwane for the Momentum Proteas’ national training camp, which also includes SA Emerging and high-performance players, as the team prepares to depart for Ireland at the end of May.