Proteas' opener Tazmin Brits reaping the rewards after getting out of her comfort zone

Former England Men’s coach Andy Flower often said that playing spin is all in the head but it's not brain surgery.

Perhaps it came as second nature to him, judging by his Test average of 117.14 in India, but it certainly wasn’t for many of the England batters he coached during his tenure. Or for that matter the Proteas’ Women’s team.

Combating slow bowlers on the spinning surfaces has long been the Achilles heel for the Proteas, and particularly for in-form opener Tazmin Brits when she started her international career. 

Brits learnt her cricket in Potchefstroom where the surfaces resemble billiard tables that allowed her to play through the line against the seam bowlers. Strong and powerfully-built, and naturally aggressive, Brits’ had a single-minded approach to the spin bowlers: Block, block, and then attack with hard hands in search of the boundary. 

It was not a fool-proof method for a lot more subtlety is required against international-quality spinners, particularly on the subcontinent. However, Brits who was once an Olympic-qualified athlete, possesses steely determination and innate will to succeed when she sets herself a goal, which was to improve against spin bowling. 

Even if it meant driving by herself for close to 360km from her home in George to Gqeberha for personalised sessions with Proteas batting coach Baakier Abrahams.

“Every batter, of course, is very different. For me personally, I had to work very, very hard on spin and strike rotation,” Brits said, ahead of the second ODI against Pakistan in Lahore on Friday.

“I mean, I like seam, so I like to climb into a seamer, but we've put in hard work, like a lot of work. I mean, there were times that I had to drive to PE for argument's sake, to Bakes, our batting coach, and that's like out of camp now just for like extra (sessions).  

“Even back home in George, so where I would always be in my comfort of maybe facing a seamer, I changed that mindset completely. And I was like, I gotta get out of my comfort zone.

“I've been working on extra shots. I've been working on head positioning. I even changed my batting grip literally just before the West Indies. There are a few things that, you know, you've got to get uncomfortable to become comfortable type of situation.”

The results have been remarkable with Brits striking three centuries in her last eight ODI innings, and all against spin-heavy teams such as India (109), West Indies (101) and Pakistan (101*) on surfaces in Colombo, Barbados and Lahore respectively. 

It certainly bodes well for next month’s World Cup, which will be held in India and Sri Lanka. 

“It just seems like things are going my way. So I'm very thankful for that. Hopefully it can continue throughout the World Cup,” Brits said.

“I mean, that's, I would have rather taken these hundreds in the World Cup than taking them before that, but hopefully with scoring those hundreds, it definitely gives me confidence. It's great that we're having a series like this before the World Cup, because at  the end of the day, you want to be in a good space. 

“You want confidence, whether you're a bowler or a batter, maybe just the team in general.”

Brits and the Proteas will have a further opportunity to boost their confidence when they look to close out the ODI series against Pakistan in the second match in Lahore on Friday (starts 12.30pm).