WCPL triumph gives Brits valuable first taste of franchise cricket

Top-order batter Tazmin Brits has returned to the Proteas Women setup for the national red-ball training camp in Tshwane as a Women’s Caribbean Premier League (WCPL) champion after enjoying a memorable debut campaign in franchise cricket with the Guyana Amazon Warriors.

Brits claimed the trophy alongside fellow Proteas teammates Chloé Tryon, Shabnim Ismail and Nadine de Klerk after the Warriors defeated the Barbados Tridents in the play-off before edging the Trinbago Knight Riders in a thrilling final.

Marizanne Kapp (Trinbago Knight Riders) and Nonkululeko Mlaba (Jamaica Express) were the other South African players who took part in this year’s WCPL.

Brits finished the tournament as the second-highest run-scorer with 119 runs in five innings at an average of 30, including a high score of 46 in the final round-robin match against the Tridents.

The franchise league experience was a new world for the 35-year-old, providing an opportunity to work with different players and coaches and learn from a new environment after spending most of her career playing domestic and international cricket in South Africa.

“It being my first league, that was just amazing. I was so excited for it and then to still do it in Barbados, I think that's one of the most beautiful places. It was such a vibe and they were very welcoming. I definitely enjoyed my time there,” Brits said.

“I think it just taught me that I've got a lot more in me. It's nice to learn. You also get different coaching staff that also makes things different. You see different points of view of your game and you sometimes learn things from other cricketers as well. So knowledge is definitely shared.”

Brits returned home with the feeling of being a champion, something she believes she can take into the Proteas Women environment.

“Well, definitely that feeling of winning. I didn't know it was so great to actually feel that,” she said.

“I mean, often we go to World Cups and we go to the finals and we never win. So it's maybe narrowed my mind in a sense that winning is definitely doable.

“I think we often think that it's not due to the fact that we haven't won, or we play the world's best like Australia or India or England. At the end of the day, cricket is cricket and I definitely think we can win.”

Away from the serious stuff, Brits also made her mark with her Warriors teammates and fans, adding to her growing list of celebrations, which have included “The Ballerina”, the “Gyökeres Mask” inspired by Bane from the Batman movie ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ and Sweden and Arsenal striker Viktor Gyökeres.

Her latest celebration in the WCPL involved dancing - something the Klerksdorp-born cricketer and former world youth javelin champion never thought she would be doing in front of the world at this point in her life.

“I mean, I never thought at the age of 35, I'd be twerking on national TV. Got a bit of backlash but also got a lot of positivity there. It was more just for the game and just for the spirit of the game,” Brits joked.