Proteas women’s star Nonkululeko Mlaba on her way to being the best

Proteas women spinning star Nonkululeko Mlaba is gunning for the top, after a brilliant run of form has seen her fly up the women’s T20 bowling rankings.

She is currently ranked second in the world behind English star Sophie Ecclestone, and has cut the deficit to her to just six points after a career best performance against New Zealand in the T20 World Cup on Monday.

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The 22-year-old Mlaba will now have a great chance to add to her growing reputation when she faces Australia in their third pool match in Gqeberha on Saturday night, and her Proteas vice-captain and team mate Chloe Tryon believes she is destined for the top.

‘Fire inside’

“I think she wants to be number one, she works really hard. She’s from my hometown (Durban), so I work a lot with her when we’re home. She bowls a lot,” said Tryon.

“She’s just trying to work on the game as much as she can. I love the fire that’s burning inside of her. I like how she sets the tone with the ball as well. I feel like as a unit, we really thrive off that. So, I’m happy to see that she’s doing so well.

“I can’t wait to see how she does in the next game (against Australia) after this. But look, I’m really excited to see her. She’s 22 years old, a young girl. So, it’s really nice to see her blossoming in front of me.”

Best ever figures

Against the White Ferns Mlaba picked up fantastic figures of 3/10 in her four overs, which are her best ever, and opened the bowling removing both openers for ducks, which gave the team the perfect start with them defending a below par total.

“I think Mlaba bowled really well today. She set the tone really well and I kind of feel like every bowler that came on just had a plan. It was really good to see and I’m really happy with the performance we had today.”

Due to her age Mlaba can continue going from strength to strength and with a potentially long international career ahead of her, she will hope to become one of the team’s shining stars for many years to come.