Cri-Zelda Brits

Cri-Zelda Brits, also written Crizelda Brits and Cri-zelda Brits (born 20 November 1983 ) is a South African cricketer.

At the age of 14, Brits made two appearances for South Africa Under-21s women against the touring England side in 1998, playing as wicket-keeper during two 50-over contests.

In the first, an eight run victory for South Africa, she claimed a stumping and a catch but was not required to bat.

For the second match, she was promoted up the order from number eight to number five and made 14 runs off 13 balls as South Africa lost by 42 runs.

Four years later, Brits made her full international debut in a One Day International against India women.

Brits was selected as a bowler, placed at number nine in the batting order, and opening the bowling for South Africa.

The match was first shortened and then abandoned, and Brits only bowled two overs, conceding two runs, before the conclusion.

Brits retained this role in the second ODI, claiming two wickets as South Africa won by 29 runs using the Duckworth–Lewis method.

She claimed three further wickets in the final two ODIs of the series.

In the fourth ODI, she was promoted up the batting order to number five, though she only managed to score ten runs as South Africa failed to chase down an Indian total of 160.

At the conclusion of the ODI series, the two sides played a Test match, with Brits reprising her role as opening bowler.

She took two wickets and conceded 91 runs (2/91) as India amassed 404/9 declared in their first-innings.

Despite her move up the batting order in the shorter format of the game, Brits batted as part of the tail during the Test match, scoring nine runs at number eleven in the first-innings and then as South Africa were forced to follow-on, she made eleven runs from number ten in the second-innings.

A right-handed batsman and right-arm medium-fast bowler, Brits was originally called up to the South Africa national women's cricket team as an opening bowler in 2002.

She reprised this role for South Africa during their 2003 tour of England.

During three 50-over warm-up matches, Brits claimed four wickets and scored 33 runs while opening the bowling and batting as part of the tail.

During the first Test, Brits showed her ability with the bat, scoring 32 runs as part of a 59-run partnership with fellow tail-ender Sune van Zyl.

She claimed two wickets in England's response, claiming the wickets of opener Charlotte Edwards and captain Clare Connor.

In the following ODIs, she claimed three wickets, all in the second match, as England claimed the series 2–1.

Unrequired to bat during South Africa's solitary victory, she made ducks in both the other matches.

She continued her string of ducks in the first-innings of the second Test, falling leg before wicket (lbw) facing her eighth delivery.

However, after claiming two English wickets, Brits top-scored for South Africa in the second-innings, making 61 off 67 balls, including 13 fours.

Despite this innings, South Africa lost the match by an innings and 96 runs.

In the South African summer of 2003–04, England women toured South Africa, playing five ODIs.

In the first match, Brits claimed three wickets as England were restricted to 151, a total South Africa passed with the last ball of the allocated 50 overs.

Brits went wicket-less in the next two matches, both England victories, but claimed another three wickets in the fourth match of the series.

Despite her wickets, England set South Africa a total of 242 to chase, and Brits was moved up the batting order to open the innings alongside Terblanche.

The tactic failed: South Africa needed to score almost five runs an over to win the match, and when Brits was dismissed in the fourteenth over for 20, the pair had only scored 38 runs, roughly two and a half runs an over.

South Africa finished on 142/9, over a hundred runs short of their target.

For the 2004 season, Brits joined Kent women, playing in all five of their Women's County Championship matches.

She finished the competition with eight wickets, including a four-wicket haul against Yorkshire in her final match.

She developed into an all-rounder, and since 2005 has established herself as a specialist batsman.

Brits was named as part of the South African squad to compete in the 2005 Women's Cricket World Cup.

Prior to the tournament, South Africa played two ODIs against England.

Brits opened the innings alongside Terblanche in both matches, as she would continue to do throughout the World Cup, and made scores of 23 and 11.

She captained South Africa in 23 matches in 2007 and 2008, but was replaced as captain in 2009 in order to "concentrate entirely on her own performance."

Between 2007 and 2011 she captain South Africa a total of 36 times (1 Test, 23 One Day Internationals and 12 Twenty20 Internationals ).

She is one of South Africa women's most prolific batsmen; being the first South African woman to have scored a half-century in a Twenty20 International.

Born in Rustenburg, Transvaal, Brits began her cricket career aged 11 when she entered the sport playing in boys' teams.

She was reappointed as captain for the 2010 ICC Women's World Twenty20.