Photo Credit: ICC
Fearless Momentum Proteas all-rounder, Chloé Tryon ackhnowledges the important responsibility that comes with her position as the team’s vice-captain, a role she has undertaken brilliantly as South Africa faced the world in an an action-packed year so far.
Ahead of her third appearance at an ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup earlier this year, the Durban-born Tryon was officially appointed the vice-captain along with captain Suné Luus for the global showpiece hosted in New Zealand.
Using her experience gained from a combined total of over 170 T20 International (T20I) and One- Day International (ODI) caps, Tryon has relished the duty bestowed upon her, with her focus being on helping with the cultivation of team spirit, while guiding the youngsters along the way.
“I have enjoyed the vice-captaincy role,” the 28-year-old said.
“I am still working on it, and it is about making sure that I am also leading from the front, and I am giving as much input as I can, especially to the youngsters. I am really tight with the senior group in the team because we have a lot of senior players that have key roles in our squad.
“You have got to be making sure, which I feel I have done well, that the team is feeling good about their game and as a team we are gelling well.
“If you are on tour; two, three months at a time, that can become really challenging at times, especially when the cricket is not going your way. It is just about making sure that we all stick together, we still play well together as a team and bounce ideas off each other about how we can move forward as a team. That is really important.” she continued.
Following the highs of the World Cup, where Tryon and the Proteas Women entertained cricket fans around the world enroute to securing a consecutive 50-over World Cup semi-final berth, South Africa achieved more success in a tour to Ireland soon after. This was before challenging campaigns against England and in the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham proved more arduous.
With the year having been topsy-turvy and lesson-filled, Tryon believes the team are on the right track ahead of next year’s ICC Women’s T20 World Cup that will be held in South Africa between 09 – 26 February 2023.
“It’s been a little bit up and down,” she noted. “It’s been quite a rollercoaster if you can call It that.
We played a fantastic World Cup and fell short again, which is unfortunate.
“We played good cricket in different patches. We came off a good Ireland series leading into an England series that we knew was going to be quite difficult and with a lot of new players coming in, it was always going to be challenging. It didn’t go the way we wanted it to, but you take a lot of learnings out of that,” Tryon said.
“As a team, we are on the right stepping blocks, especially leading into a World Cup next year. We took a lot of positives from the England series into the Commonwealth, and we fell a little bit short, but we played fantastic cricket, and it was just key moments we missed out on.
“We are not where we want to be at the moment, but we are on the right path. We’ve got a lot of girls that are coming in so it can only be leading to good things as a team that’s hosting a World Cup next year,” she added.
Despite the results against England and in the Cricket T20 competition at the Games, Tryon showed glimpses of her very best form with two explosive half-centuries in the ODI series, including an impressive 88 off 73 balls (10 fours, 3 sixes) in the opening game.
The hard-hitting batter was in great nick again, this time for the Barbados Royals at the first ever 6ixty T10 competition in the Caribbean. Tryon smashed a tournament high score of 63 off 29 deliveries (5 fours, 4 sixes) as her side were crowned champions in the three-team event.
Fast bowler and CSA Cricketer of the Year, Ayabonga Khaka and all-rounder Luus also featured in the festival of cricket in the West Indies, representing the Guyana Amazon Warriors and the Trinbago Knight Riders, respectively. All three teams and players also formed the inaugural Women’s Caribbean Premier League that took place a week later.
“A fantastic tournament to be a part of. Yes, the 6ixty was a little bit different, with the rules and everything like that but cricket is evolving quite a bit now so it’s nice seeing different things are being put into place.
“It was exciting and to obviously win that was fantastic.
“The atmosphere was amazing, it was nice to see so many people drawn to the game, especially that side in the West Indies.
“It (CPL) was exciting to be a part of, unfortunately we couldn’t get over the line in the final against Sune’s team but it was a fantastic tournament to be a part of and hopefully I can be a part of it again next year but it is stepping blocks for them and it is exciting,” Tryon concluded.
Name of Author: Cricket South Africa
Cricket South Africa (CSA) governs cricket in South Africa. Formed in 2002, it succeeded the United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCB) and became the sole governing body in 2008. CSA oversees all levels of cricket, including national teams for men and women, and is a full ICC member and SASCOC affiliate.
