The U19 Women’s team represented South Africans with pride and conviction at the inaugural ICC U19 Women’s T20 World Cup. After a shaky start to the tournament, losing to India in the opening weekend, these young prodigies showed their mettle and that they were up to the task.
For this week’s IG Live gsport writer Lonwabo Nkohla spoke to a young lady who, in her own right, had a tournament to remember. 19 year old Madison Landsman made history and claimed the first hat-trick of the inaugural Under-19 Women’s T20 World Cup, in Benoni in their Group D clash against Scotland.
Click here to watch on IG Live
Landsman’s talent was first spotted by a friend of her father while she was playing backyard cricket at Springs in Gauteng.
“I was playing Cricket in my backyard and my dad’s friend came over just to have a chat. He saw me play and bowl and said I should come to trials and then the following year I went to trials for the Easterns.” At 14 years old, she was selected to represent Eastern Gauteng Ladies Provincial Cricket Team.
The over achiever that she is “Maddie” as she is affectionately known, had two major milestones running concurrently, 1. Preparing for a World Cup and 2. Writing her final matric exams.
“It was very difficult, obviously matric is very demanding. It was understanding that it was going to be a lot of studying and a lot of training. A lot of late nights. Even Benoni High was very understanding and accommodating when I had to attend training camps.”
When she learnt of her selection to the Proteas U19 squad she was on holiday with some friends after the final exams; “I was sitting in a hotel room with an iPad listening to the squad announcement. It was a dream come true”.
“Immediately after the announcement I called home and everyone was so excited, everyone was screaming, my mom was crying. There was just so much excitement because from day one they’ve been such great support.”
Coach Dinesha Devnarain’s squad had a bit of pressure as the hosts, not of just a global showpiece but the first-ever ICC U19 Women’s T20 World Cup and they produced some of best performances of the tournament.
“We had a couple of camps leading up to the World Cup and I put a lot of pressure on myself. Everyone wanted it so badly, the road to the world cup wasn’t very easy.”
Everyone kept pushing and everyone knew how important it was to pass matric and to do well at the World Cup.
Despite the loss in the first game against India they came back strong, “That was a difficult loss. We knew that there were so many positives to take after that game. We took so many lessons that took us through to the rest of the world cup.”
The Junior Proteas were unfortunate to miss out on a semi-final spot after winning four of their five matches, with net run rate proving decisive.
They won four of their five encounters and narrowly missed out on a semi-final spot. But it goes without saying that there’s a lot to be proud of.
On the historic hat-trick, “I still don’t know how to feel about it. It’s still a bit of a dream. It was unbelievable. My parents were so excited about the hat-trick.”
Madison shared some of her highlights from the World Cup, “Every time we were in a tough spot, everyone would put up their hand and fight.”
Landsman hopes to one day play for the senior women’s cricket team and here at gsport, we are rooting for her.
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