Bristol was not supposed to be her stage at this Women’s T20 World Cup. Tazmin Brits had spent the first two games watching from the outside, dropped from the playing eleven before South Africa shuffled their cards and handed her back her spot. When she did return, the conditions were different, the role unfamiliar, and the innings shaped more by caution than the aggression that defines her best cricket. But at the County Ground on Thursday evening, against a Netherlands attack that proved generous in all the right moments, Brits finally became the batter she always was.
She finished 114 not out off 69 balls. Fifteen fours. Three sixes. A maiden T20 international century. And perhaps most significantly, she never came close to getting out once she mattered most.
The innings carried a certain inevitability about it. Brits and Laura Wolvaardt, South Africa’s two most experienced openers and the only two South African women to have crossed 2000 T20 international runs, walked out needing more than just a win. South Africa’s net run rate demanded a statement, and Brits delivered one that went well beyond the numbers.
The start was measured rather than explosive. Wolvaardt searched for timing early, missing a couple of inviting deliveries before settling into her rhythm. Brits was quicker to impose herself, punishing a short, wide ball for the first boundary of the innings and setting the tone before the powerplay even gathered momentum. When Silver Siegers came on in the fifth over, it was too short and cost 17 runs. South Africa closed the powerplay at 66 without loss.
The Netherlands had their chances. Brits was dropped at point on 46. She was nearly stumped on 57. A run-out mix-up that should have ended her innings instead ended in nothing, with the bowler relaying the ball to the keeper instead of breaking the stumps at her own end. Every let-off, Brits punished without hesitation.
Wolvaardt fell in the 14th over, caught behind off Hannah Landheer for 45, the pair having added 121 together, the highest partnership they have shared as an opening combination. It was the only wicket the Dutch could take all evening. By then, Brits was so well set that the second half of the innings felt like a formality with ever-rising stakes.
Annerie Dercksen walked in and read the situation beautifully. She gave Brits the strike for the first few balls, watched from the non-striker’s end, and then exploded once she had found her eye. Her first boundary arrived with a six smashed over extra cover. She finished with 37 not out off 16 balls at a strike rate of 231, including back-to-back fours off Iris Zwilling in the final over. Her presence freed Brits to play with the same abandon.
The century came in the 18th over, Brits clearing long-on for her first six of the night to bring up the milestone in 63 balls. She had already become the second South African woman to 2000 T20 international runs on her way there. This was the second-highest individual score in Women’s T20 World Cup history, behind only Meg Lanning’s 126 against Ireland in 2014. South Africa closed on 208 for 1, their highest total at any Women’s T20 World Cup, and the highest score the Netherlands have ever conceded in the format.
In reply, the Dutch showed enough spirit to suggest the evening had not been entirely one-sided. Sanya Khurana and Phebe Molkenboer opened with 58 runs and were comfortable through the powerplay. Khurana targeted Ayabonga Khaka from the outset, hitting her on both sides of the wicket, before also taking on Shabnim Ismail. Molkenboer had no hesitation facing the fastest bowler at the tournament, sending her for three consecutive boundaries in the second over. The Dutch were 50 without loss after six overs and briefly looking like they intended to make a game of it.
Then the middle overs squeezed the life out of the chase. Ismail, who had erred on the short side all evening, found her reward in the 15th over when she cramped Sterre Kalis into a pull shot that found Sinalo Jafta behind the stumps. That wicket cracked the innings open. Eight wickets fell for 20 runs across the final five overs. Khaka took three of them in the final over, two in successive balls, to finish with 3 for 19. Netherlands were bowled out for 120 and South Africa had won by 88 runs.
The victory was their third in succession since losing to Australia in their tournament opener. It moved their net run rate into positive territory at 0.734, though India’s superior run rate of 2.268 means South Africa still have work to do on Sunday against Bangladesh at Lord’s. Both teams are level on six points, with the final group game set to decide who joins Australia in the final four.
For Brits, the tournament has been a personal climb. Dropped, recalled, restricted, and then finally given room to breathe, she did what only the best players can manage: she took her moment and made it look like it had been coming all along.
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