Nonkululeko Mlaba

Although Mlaba is the most inexperienced player, she has put in some impressive performances for the KwaZulu-Natal Coastal team, which led to her T20I debut against India in September 2019

Ellie Wookey | 24/01/2020 at 14:05

Born: June 27, 2000

Role: Left-arm spinner

At just 19 years old, Nonkululeko Mlaba is the youngest member in the South Africa squad for the upcoming tournament.

Although Mlaba is the most inexperienced player, she has put in some impressive performances for the KwaZulu-Natal Coastal team, which led to her T20I debut against India in September 2019.

She has been described by her team-mates as having a bubbly personality and she has not looked back since she started playing cricket at the age of 13.

Since December 2016, she has excelled at the CSA National U19 Girls Tournaments and in early 2018 she took the first five-wicket haul of the CSA National Women’s week.

Her significant contributions at the National Week led to the KwaZulu-Natal Coastal team being promoted to the CSA Women’s ‘Top Six’ League.

As a result of her stand-out performances, she was called up to the CSA National Academy.

Fearless with ball in hand, Mlaba enjoys putting pressure on the batsmen and is a consistent wicket-taker.

Her cricketing idol is recently retired South African leg-spinner Imran Tahir and she harbours ambitions become one of the best spin bowlers in women’s cricket.

Mlaba was named in the SA Emerging squad that recently played against Bangladesh and became involved in the newly formed CSA Women’s T20 Super League, where her outstanding performances with the ball led her to receiving her first national call-up for South Africa’s tour of India in September-October 2019.

Despite only playing 3 T20Is so far in her career, she is a promising young talent who South African fans will hope to see more of in the upcoming competition.

SOUTH AFRICA PLAYER PROFILES

Chloe Tryon