Meet Kristie Thomson, the Cricket star

Kirstie Thomson is a 34-year-old cricket player from Johannesburg.

She is a medical doctor who is currently specialising in diagnostic radiology and plays cricket for the women’s premier league team at Wanderers Club and the Lions provincial women’s team.

She started playing mini-cricket at Pirates when she was five years old and had been playing in her garden long before that.

“I have no idea what exactly sparked my interest in cricket – since I saw it on TV I was hooked. I played plenty of ball sports from a young age and loved being outside but for some reason, cricket was my favourite,” said Thomson.

When she was young, her favourite player was Gary Kirsten and she used to often wish she was a left-handed batter like he was. “Growing up there were no female role model cricketers. I hadn’t ever met another girl who liked the game. I was always the only girl in the boys’ teams.

“My biggest challenge as a cricketer would probably be the massive step up from provincial cricket to the national side around 2010. Back then, the women’s game was very amateur and then suddenly having to play against the professionalism of international teams who took women’s cricket seriously was very difficult.”

A tough decision for her was to study medicine and no longer play in the Proteas setup.
“I, unfortunately, had to choose a career that would allow me to earn a living, and cricket didn’t pay anything back then. It is so exciting to see the women’s game becoming professional so other girls like me won’t have to make such tough choices.”

According to Thomson, the more women’s cricket was televised, girls would realise the opportunities of playing the game. When young girls have female cricketing role models, it would be a game changer.

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