After losing her opening position and then sitting on the bench for South Africa's first two T20 World Cup games, Tazmin Brits was thrust into a big pressure situation against India. She was back at the top, against a side she had managed a top score of 30 two months ago, and with her team in a must-win situation in Manchester. She scored 40 in a stand of 97 with Marizanne Kapp, which won the game for South Africa, and said she still felt she "let the team down in the powerplay."
Chasing 159, South Africa were 25 for 2 after six overs and going nowhere. Brits was 5 off 11 balls and could not get the ball away. Four days on, batting on a decent track against a Netherlands attack that chose to operate in the afternoon heat, she was unstoppable.
While Laura Wolvaardt could not make contact with the first two wide deliveries she was bowled, but Brits sent a similar delivery through cover point for four. By the fourth over, she was ready to clear the front leg and smear the ball into the leg side; by the fifth, to open her stance and hit over square leg and get down on one knee and sweep; by the sixth, to pull and drive with power. That approach came from a desire to do better "especially after the Indian game," she said at the press conference afterwards. "That was a must-win game for us and to be under that pressure, I did feel that I let the team down a bit in the powerplay. Today I just wanted to show a bit more intent."
She played an explosive range of shots, mostly in the familiar front-of-square area where she has always scored a lot of runs. Of Brits' 114 (in 69 balls), 87 were scored in front of point and square leg. The two that she will want to watch on repeat came as late as in the 19th over when she sent a Silver Siegers full toss 87 metres into the stands and then charged down the track to hit Siegers back over her head. By then, Brits was comfortable enough to play some of her signature strokes after taking time to bring them out.
"I've never faced Netherlands' bowlers. I've watched a bit of their videos but you never know what's coming. I wanted to be a bit more steady to see what was happening because we don't want to lose a few wickets up front," she said. "Once I read the wicket a bit better as well, then I thought it's time to move on."
Brits' half-century came off 36 balls. Her next 64 took just 33 balls. Between them, Brits and Annerie Dercksen scored 82 runs off the last six overs. The instruction to up the ante came at the drinks' break when coach Mandla Mashimbyi told them what he expected. "After I think like the second drinks' break, he came in and he said 'now sixes need to fly'. So thank goodness Dercky came in there as well to help me with that."
It was Mashimbyi who moved Brits from the opening berth where she has spent most of her career because he felt she was not striking quickly enough. For the home series against India, Sune Luus proved an adequate replacement and Wolvaardt's form eclipsed obvious problems - like Brits misfiring at No. 3.
She is clearly more comfortable at the top but what she doesn't know is if she will stay there. Asked if she wants to, Brits towed the team line. "Our coach, he's got his own little tricks and they seem to be working. We just trust the process. At the end of the day, it's not the XI that defines us, it's the 15," she said. "If we're able to bat, we just try and make sure that we get over the line."
That seems to leave Brits without much certainty but in a life where an Olympic dream was dashed by a serious car accident and career cricket came after working at a grocery store, she is used to small miracles. "In my life, there still seems to be a lot of ups and downs, if I'm going to be honest with you. It seems like it doesn't want to leave me. But I like to believe that God gives the difficulties to his biggest soldiers. I feel my story's already written. All I have to do is show up," she said. "At the end of the day, there's nothing I can control. Whether I play or whether I don't play, I know my capabilities. So I just show up."
That belief informed the way she marked reaching this milestone. Usually, Brits acknowledges reaching fifty or hundred with a pirouette-style ballerina celebration, which is for her father (she regards herself as daddy's little girl) and was created in coordination with team-mate Masabata Klaas' daughter. This time, she didn't because she "didn't even realise she was on fifty" but remembered the sign language celebration for her century: she signed the words, 'I am grateful to God' and later said it was also about performing for the team. "I always believe in myself. I always like to think that somewhere along the line I'll be able to help this team win a World Cup," she said. "I'm glad that I could get that hundred and I'm even more glad I could help us to get to the 200 today."
South Africa's final group match is against Bangladesh on Sunday at Lord's. They need to win that game and wait for the outcome of Australia vs India before finding out if they progress to the semi-finals. For South Africa to go through, Australia would have to win. Asked if this was the first time she would be actively supporting Australia, Brits leaned forward, raised an eyebrow and simply said: "Indeed."