T20 WC 2023: Brits on brink of fairytale finish in her second chance to glory

Having missed the 2012 Olympics due to an accident, the then Javelin Thrower has a chance to win the cricket World Cup in front of a home crowd.
Tazmin Brits. (Photo | AFP)
Tazmin Brits. (Photo | AFP)

CAPE TOWN: On Thursday evening, when Tazmin Brits threw herself to pluck a one-handed stunner in the sixth over to get rid of England's Alice Capsey at midwicket —- a dismissal that was the beginning of a turnaround for the hosts in the semifinal of the T20 World Cup at Newlands — she had no idea what she was doing. 

"I was actually hoping you're going to tell me," laughed Brits after the match. "I also don't know what happened there my legs are so tired after the batting. I just reacted," she said. 

It had been that kind of a day for Brits. She had smashed a fifty when South Africa batted first. During the chase, the ball followed her everywhere she went, so much so that she ended up taking four catches. If she were able to bowl, Sune Luus would have made her do that as well. However, Brits is not used to having too many such fairytale days where everything just falls into place.

Starting out as a Javelin thrower, Brits did not take much time to rise to fame. In 2007, the then 16-year-old won the World Youth Championships in Athletics in the Czech Republic. Over the next five years, all she had was one goal — the 2012 London Olympics. She has a tattoo of the Olympic rings on her biceps and was set to make a mark on the world stage. Then, the luck ran out. 

Months before the marquee event, she was returning home after a night out with friends and a momentary lapse of concentration meant her car crashed. She was not wearing seatbelts and was thrown out of the window. As the car landed on her, she survived with a broken pelvis, dislocated hip, and burst bladder. Her Olympic dream was crushed, and her career as an athlete was all but over.

For three weeks, she was in Intensive Care Unit and it was only after two months she gradually started walking. Sports was the last thing on her mind at that point. With very little hope to hold on, she had to work as a waitress, and in a grocery store.

The thoughts about the missed dream kept coming back to haunt her. She struggled to an extent where Brits had thought about taking her life. While she started working with a psychologist, the road back to ‘normal’ life was not easy. 

Physically, she had to go through multiple surgeries to get the joints together and functional over the next seven years. It wasn't until 2018 she was mentally prepared to pick up a javelin in hand. Even as she made a comeback in lower-level competitions, it was difficult for her to move up the rungs with the technique taking a toll on her lower body.

Meanwhile, it was the same year her batting took prominence in the domestic circuit. As a result, Brits was called-up to play cricket for South Africa —  T20I debut that year and ODI debut three years later in 2021. 

Come 2023, she is opening the batting for her country in a home T20 World Cup. 12 years after the accident that turned her life over, Brits got an opportunity to make an impact on the global stage, that too, in front of her family and friends. And she was not going to let go off it. The 32-year-old scored a 55-ball 68, was diving around stopping balls, and taking catches as South Africa were hoping to make history; to get past that semifinal curse and reach the final of a World Cup.

In fact, when she had to leave the field because a vein popped up during a diving attempt, she didn't want to. "It stood out but they pushed it down - so it's back down, we weren't sure it was a bone or not. Mo – he’s our physio - I said, please let me go back on the field - he said 'no, let's go sort this'. I said 'no, I need to go to the field.' So yeah, I had to go off and he had to just make sure the doctor and he just checked and make sure there were no bones broken," explained a chuffed Brits after the semifinal.

As the hosts are set to take on Australia in the final of the T20 World Cup on Sunday, Brits knows what her tattoo next to the Olympic rings is going to be. "If we can win the final, yeah I think it'll actually beat (the old tattoo). I might have to put the Proteas badge next to this at the end of the day."

Perhaps, the tide has turned, and the ghosts of the past are buried. The luck is back with Brits and the Proteas. And if Sunday turns out to be another fairytale day for Brits, there is nothing else she could ask for. 

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