13th African Games | Shangase leads women cricketers into battle
By GARY LEMKE in Accra
It was understandable that when Nondumiso Shangase made her full Proteas Women’s cricket debut in October 2019 she was a bundle of nerves. Even more so when she was thrown the ball in the 11th over with Pakistan at 71 for 3, on track to chase down South Africa’s T20 score of 138.
An off-spinner, the 23-year-old rookie sent her first ball down to Nida Dar, a veteran of 200 Internationals. It went to the boundary. Not exactly a start to calm those nerves. To her credit, her next five balls were one run, dot, one run, one run, dot. She was then removed from the attack and Pakistan went on to win a thriller with two balls remaining.
“I didn’t get a chance to bat, so when I got the ball I wanted to impress. I didn’t get a wicket though.”
Not getting a wicket with her first six balls in International cricket highlights the standards that Shangase, now 27 and who has racked up 18 games for the senior Proteas, sets herself. “I want to keep improving and become recognised as one of the best all rounders in the world.”
What made her debut so much more special was the fact it was her brother Bongani’s birthday. It was the 19th of May, I’ll never forget it.” It was Bongani who encouraged her to take up cricket. Well, sort of.
“Every weekend my brother used to play. He’d catch a taxi and then come later and have had such a nice day. I was 17 at the time and playing a bit of netball, but just sitting around at home and I thought I needed to go see what cricket is all about, so I arranged for four of my friends to go with me by taxi.”
Home then was the township of Inanda, about 25km north-west of Durban. “I don’t come from a good neighbourhood. My father passed away in 2007 when I was 11 and my mom passed in 2012 when I was 18. Everyone knows that Inanda has a high crime rate, but personally I’ve been lucky. I’ve never seen anyone shot but I have seen victims stabbed.”
And at the age of 19 she also fell victim to a mugging. “Around four of five guys surrounded me with knives. They took everything I had with me, including my takkies. They then walked away. My ID book was in my bag and I was determined to not let them take that too. So I shouted, ‘hey! Give me back my ID! And they said, “come take it back from us.’ I replied, ‘No! Leave it on the ground!’ And they did.’
This came at a time when Shangase had finally, after a year of doubt, fallen in love with cricket enough to pursue a career.
“When I was 17, the boys used to say, ‘why do you want to play cricket? It’s a boys sport and they’re not going to give you any money to play. You’re not going to be a professional.”
However, she had a talent, and hard work was part of her DNA. That’s not to say she doubted herself.
“When I first started, I kept getting hit by the ball and it was sore! I was always carrying bruises. I wanted to stop. I told my granny, ‘I’m not going back’. And she said, ‘no, you are going back. You chose to play cricket, so you are going back.’
“Another time I tried to use the excuse that I couldn’t go to cricket because my kit was dirty and I needed to wash it. She told me, ‘I’ll wash your kit’. And that’s how I kept going. The same year that I started I made the KwaZulu-Natal Under-19 team and from there I have never stopped.
“Dinesha Devnarin, who is also our coach here at the African Games, has been really good to me. She helped me a lot when it came to kit and stuff. Nothing ever came easy to me, so getting the help that I did from her and others was so appreciated.”
Shangase has gone on to become captain of the Hollywoodbets Dolphins and she also captained the SA Emerging Women against Zimbabwe in an unofficial T20I series last November. She played a starring role with both bat and ball in a series won 3-2 by the visitors.
Her last match in Proteas colours was captaining a SA Women’s XI against touring Bangladesh in Bloemfontein last December.
Shangase is the most experienced player in the Team SA women’s squad in Accra, and she’s the only full Protea. She will be relied upon to lead from the front and make the right decisions, and while not giving anything away, when Team SA come up against Namibia in their first match of the Games on Thursday, she knows what she will do if she wins the toss.
Whatever she decides to do you can be sure that she will make things happen. Be it as a captain, or with bat or ball, or both.
Photo: Roger Sedres in Accra
Source: Team SA
