About Kelis Ndhlovu:
Name:- Kelis Ndhlovu
Date of Birth:- 16th November 2005
Bowling Style:- Slow Left-arm Orthodox
Batting Style:- Left Hand Bat
Place of Birth:- Chitungwiza, Zimbabwe
Role:- Batting All-rounder
Teams:- Zimbabwe Women
Bio:-
The 18-year-old young sensation from Zimbabwe is an exciting prospect and the player to watch out for in the coming years for Zimbabwe. She made her international debut on 20th April 2022 in a T20I against Namibia. She has scored 601 runs at a strike rate of 98.52 and a decent average of 20.72 in 34 innings. Her tally of runs includes a couple of half-centuries. Her best performance with the bat for Zimbabwe in the T20I format came on 24th April 2022 when she scored an unbeaten 58 runs at a strike rate of 92.06 against Namibia in the Capricorn Women’s tri-series involving Namibia and Uganda. She played a crucial role with the bat at the top of the order, opening the innings alongside Sharne Mayers. Zimbabwe eventually clinched the game by a comprehensive 67-run margin.
Apart from her exploits with the bat, she has also picked up 34 wickets at a strike rate of 17, an average of 15.70, with an economy of 5.51 in 32 innings with the ball for her side. Her best performance with the ball came on 11th March 2024 when she returned with sensational match figures (4-1-12-3) in her spell against Nigeria in the 2nd semi-final of the Women’s African Games, earlier this year.
She played a crucial role in helping her side clinch a comprehensive 5-wicket victory to progress to the final. She was awarded the Player of the Match for her match-winning spell with the ball. Zimbabwe were eventually crowned as the champions of the Women’s African Games as they defeated the South African Emerging Women’s team led by skipper Nondumiso Shangase in a thrilling, low-scoring finale that was eventually decided in a super over.
She was also awarded the Player of the Series for scoring 59 runs with the bat at a strike rate of 81.94 in five innings with the bat and picking up 9 wickets with the ball at a strike rate of 11.33, a sensational average of 8.66 and an economy of 4.58. She was the highest wicket-taker for Zimbabwe and the joint 2nd highest wicket-taker of the tournament alongside the South African Emerging Women’s team skipper Nondumiso Shangase.
She made her ODI debut on 19th April 2023 against Thailand. She has scored 102 runs at a strike rate of 54.83 in 9 innings. Her best performance with the bat for Zimbabwe in the ODI format came on 21st January 2024 when she scored 34 runs at a strike rate of 85 against Ireland in the 2nd ODI of the bilateral series. She played a crucial role in helping her side tie the game, scoring 34 runs with the bat and returning with impressive match figures (9-0-36-3) in her spell.
Apart from her exploits with the bat, she has also picked up 15 wickets at a strike rate of 29.2, an impressive average of 16, and a sensational economy of 3.28 in 9 innings. Her best performance with the ball in the ODI format for Zimbabwe came on 19th April 2023 when she returned with exceptional match figures (9-2-22-5) in her spell on her ODI debut against Thailand in the 1st ODI on their tour of Thailand.
She holds the record for the joint 2nd best figures (9-2-22-5) on her ODI debut, alongside the likes of Purnima Choudhary (8-0-21-5) [India], Felicity Leydon-Davis (8.2-1-18-5) [New Zealand], Tina Macpherson (12-7-14-5) [Australia], and Laura Harper (8.4-2-12-5) [England]. She also holds the record for being the 3rd youngest player to take a five-wicket haul in the ODI format at the age of 17 years and 154 days, which also happened to be her debut game in the format.