A girl (Tumi Sekhukhune) who was born and bred in Daveyton promises to represent her township in the South African women’s national cricket club.
Sekhukhune started embracing cricket when she joined the Daveyton Cricket Club in 2005 when the sport was largely male-dominated. Her breakthrough was made possible by her coaches, Raymond Ramahlo and Fred Mokoena who led her to the girls’ cricket teams in Benoni.
At the age of 14, Sekhukhune joined the Easterns women’s cricket team then at the age of 20 she undertook her first international tour with the South African women’s cricket team(Proteas). According to her, the best highlight of her cricket career was when she was offered a national contract in 2019. “I was ecstatic because finally, my hard work had paid off, I was not only offered the contract but I was also named the International Women’s Newcomer of the year at the Cricket SA sports awards,’ said Sekhukhune. She felt trapped during the national lockdown because there were no games, however, that didn’t discourage her because she knew that her talent stays within her.
Sekhukhune started playing international games again in January against Pakistan where they were beaten 5-0 in the ODI’s and 2-1 in the T-20’s.
“I also went to India where I got 100000 lakh for the catch of the day in one of the games and then on the 4th of April, I was invited by Momentum to be their guest speaker for the #pinkDayODI at Northcliff,” she expressed.
The theme of the day was to raise awareness against breast cancer. Sekhukhune felt that it was ideal for Momentum to host such an event because not a lot of companies support and rally behind women with breast cancer. On the 12th of May 2021, she got the opportunity to go represent the Proteas at the KFC mini cricket which was held in Delmark primary school and Kgothalang primary school.
“I got emotional when I heard I will be part of this event because I was going back to my grassroots where I learnt the basics of cricket, I didn’t know what I was going to say to those kids because talking about my background brings me tears,” she explained. Sekhukhune told Ekurhuleni News that she had to learn the hard way and motivate herself when she was breaking down during her journey.
The right-arm, fast-medium bowler is planning to open a foundation where she can help upcoming female athletes with sanitary pads and establish forums that will help girls to find perfect bras because no one talks about these things.
“In the few townships that I have visited most girls struggle, my wish is to see them playing cricket with freedom and with lots of fun.”
Simphiwe Nkosi
