Promising future for Grassy Park star player

An impressive performance with bat in hand earned Jemma Botha, from Grassy Park, the player of the match award in a group stage fixture against New Zealand, at the recent ICC under-19 Women’s Cricket World Cup in Malaysia.

Team South Africa collected the team of the tournament award with wins against England and Australia en route the finals against eventual winners India.

The under-19 SA women’s team qualified for their first T20 World Cup with an impressive five-wicket win in the semi-finals against the Aussies, whom they restricted to 105/8 and included a rock-solid performance by Jemma (34) and Kayla Reyneke(26).

Introduced to the game at the age of four by her father, Mario, a long-serving member of Saint Augustine Cricket Club, in Elfindale, young Jemma, a Grade 12 pupil at Wynberg Girls’ High School, considers herself an all-rounder, albeit one who prefers to bat.

The youngster also took part in the inaugural under-19 world cup in South Africa in 2023 and represented the country at last year’s African Games in Ghana where her team finished in second place.

“I enjoy batting more than bowling, but I am an all-rounder and that gives me the opportunity to help my team in both aspects,” she said.

Sporty by nature and, as any busy teen might know, balancing school, cricket and social life can be challenging, to say the least.

“Being in matric it’s been really difficult.This year, cricket is taking a step back so that I can focus on my school, but that doesn’t mean I won't be training, I’ll just train earlier in the mornings,” she said.

“The best thing about playing cricket is meeting people from different backgrounds and if I didn’t play cricket, I’d most probably be playing a different sport,” she said.

St Augustine women’s coach, Deon Newkirk, has known Jemma since her days of playing mini cricket at Saints.

Although she’s still a member of the club’s junior set up, Jemma no longer plays her club cricket at Saints, said Newkirk, as she now plays for UWC.

“One of the reasons for this is that we don’t play in the top league in WP. One of our goals is to pursue promotion to the top league and be competitive there,” he said.

Newkirk says more should be done to get girls and women to play the game, to ensure more Jemmas to come through the ranks.

“The CSA hub system is working really well in terms of getting coaches into schools to encourage girls to start playing the game,” he said, referring to a Cricket South Africa (CSA) initiative to establish centres of excellence at various schools and clubs across the city, including one at St Augustine.

“Similar hubs have been established in Khayelitsha, Langa and at various clubs across the city, including at Kenwyn-based Victoria Cricket Club, Primrose CC’s home ground on Rosmead Avenue in Kenilworth,Tygerberg CC in Ravensmead and more recently at Spine Road High School in Rocklands, Mitchell’s Plain.

“As a result, there has been steady growth in terms of the number of girls playing... I would like to see a Cape Premier League (CPL)-type format introduced at both women’s and girls-age-group levels. Ultimately, a women’s version of the SA20 would be a major boost for our game,” he said.

“From a Saints perspective, we absolutely need individuals to come alongside us as potential sponsors. This will allow us to support the development of individual girls at our club, particularly girls who are still completing their schooling,” he said.

Having won eight and losing six games, Newkirk is understandably disappointed at their overall standing this season. However, the coach remains confident that things will pick up.

“Outside of the results, we’ve seen really encouraging improvement among the women. I’ve been most pleased with the growth we’ve seen in their knowledge and understanding of the game,” he said.

“We are fortunate to have seen girls as young as 11 join our club. Some of these girls come from communities where disposable cash for kit, personal coaching and so on, is not readily available. So financial backing would go a long way towards us making a meaningful impact on their cricketing skills. Moreover, it can support our vision of the holistic development of our girls - it’s more than just cricket for us,” he said.

“For me it’s about passion, to chase your dreams and never let anyone tell you that you can’t,” said Jemma.