Nonkululeko Mlaba: Journey to Proteas camp

Proteas player Nonkululeko Mlaba hails from KwaMashu, a South African township. KwaMashu is a place which is famous for its love of the arts, particularly folk dancing known as pantsula. Mlaba could also easily have been lost to the arts before moving to Ntuzuma. The left-arm spinner has left dancing for her love of cricket.

Mlaba is currently the ICC’s No 2-ranked T20I Women’s bowler. The 22-year-old cricketer said that she loves to dance and she still dances when she gets time. However, she added that at the end it's all about cricket. She is grateful that cricket has given everything to her as she is living a better life.

“I do love dancing and definitely dance a lot in my free time. But at the end of the day, all that I have is through cricket,” Mlaba was quoted as saying by IOL.

“I can say that cricket has allowed me to help fix up my family home, we are now living in a better and warmer home and that was through cricket. Even my place near the stadium, I have it through cricket,” she added.

Mlaba could not perform well in Proteas’ opening game against Sri Lanka Women in the ongoing ICC Women’s T20 World Cup. However, she bounced back with figures of 3/10 in the crushing 65-run victory over New Zealand in the next match at Boland Park, in Paarl. The 22-year-old spinner's performance started with a wicket off her second ball as she returned to open the bowling.

“She works really hard. She's from my hometown, so I work a lot with her when we're home. She bowls a lot. She's just trying to work on the game as much as she can. I love the fire that's burning inside of her,” Proteas all-rounder and Mlaba’s fellow left-arm spinner Chloe Tryon said.

Tryon also said that Mlaba always sets the tone with the ball as well. She also expressed her happiness as the left-arm spinner is doing well. She added that she is really excited to watch how she performs in the next match. Tryon and the other Proteas players will face Australia in their next clash in Gqeberha on Saturday, February 18. 

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