South Africa batter Tazmin Brits made a brilliant return to form with her maiden T20I century against the Netherlands in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026. After a difficult few weeks, Brits played one of the best innings of her career and helped South Africa stay in the race for a place in the semi-finals.
South Africa produced a dominant performance in Bristol. Brits scored a superb 114 off 69 balls, while captain Laura Wolvaardt gave her excellent support in a 121-run opening partnership. Annerie Dercksen then finished the innings strongly as South Africa crossed the 200-run mark. The bowlers backed up the batting effort by bowling out the Netherlands comfortably, giving South Africa an important win and a valuable boost to their Net Run Rate.
Brits’ outstanding innings came after a difficult period in the tournament. She had lost her opening spot and was left out of South Africa’s first two World Cup matches. She returned to the team against India under pressure and scored 40 in a 97-run partnership with Marizanne Kapp, helping South Africa win a must-win game.
Even after that important knock, Brits felt she had not done enough. Against India, South Africa were chasing 159 but reached only 25/2 after the Powerplay. Brits had managed just five runs from her first 11 deliveries and struggled to score freely. Only four days later, she looked like a completely different batter.
Playing on a good batting pitch against the Netherlands, Brits attacked from the beginning. She punished loose deliveries, found the gaps regularly and slowly built her innings before taking complete control. As she settled in, she played her full range of shots, including powerful drives, pulls, sweeps and big hits over the leg side. Brits said she wanted to show more attacking intent after the India game.
“That was a must-win game for us and to be under that pressure, I did feel that I let the team down a bit in the powerplay. Today I just wanted to show a bit more intent.”
She also explained why she started carefully before playing her attacking shots. “I’ve never faced Netherlands’ bowlers. I’ve watched a bit of their videos, but you never know what’s coming. I wanted to be a bit more steady to see what was happening because we don’t want to lose a few wickets up front. Once I read the wicket a bit better as well, then I thought it’s time to move on.”
Brits reached her half-century from 36 balls before becoming even more dangerous. She scored her next 64 runs from only 33 deliveries and completely changed the game. She and Annerie Dercksen added 82 runs in the final six overs after receiving a clear message from head coach Mandla Mashimbyi during the drinks break.
“After I think like the second drinks’ break, he came in and he said, ‘now sixes need to fly’. So, thank goodness Dercky came in there as well to help me with that.”
Mashimbyi had earlier decided to move Brits away from her regular opening position because he wanted a quicker start from the team. While Brits enjoys opening the batting, she said she trusts the team’s plans.
“Our coach, he’s got his own little tricks, and they seem to be working. We just trust the process. At the end of the day, it’s not the XI that defines us, it’s the 15. If we’re able to bat, we just try and make sure that we get over the line.”
Brits usually celebrates her fifties and hundreds with a ballerina-style spin. The celebration is dedicated to her father, whom she calls her biggest supporter, and was created together with teammate Masabata Klaas’ daughter. This time, however, she celebrated differently. After reaching her century, Brits used sign language to say, “I am grateful to God.”
She later explained that the milestone was special because it helped the team reach a strong total. “I always believe in myself. I always like to think that somewhere along the line I’ll be able to help this team win a World Cup. I’m glad that I could get that hundred and I’m even more glad I could help us to get to the 200 today.”
South Africa now face Bangladesh in their final Group 1 match at Lord’s on June 28 (Sunday). They must win that game and then hope Australia defeat India to book their place in the semi-finals. When asked if this would be the first time she would be cheering for Australia, Brits smiled, leaned forward and gave a short but clear answer, “indeed.”
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