PROTEAS IN FINAL PUSH TO VICTORY

The Proteas, Banyana and the Boks have forged an impressive year for women's sport. Now the nation gets behind our cricketers to go all the way tomorrow

- WENDY JASSON DA COSTA, ROWAN CALLAGHAN AND ONGAMA GCWABE

WHEN Proteas all-rounder Chloe Tryon takes to the field against India tomorrow, she won’t just be playing for her team; she'll be carrying the hopes of 600 Scottburgh High School pupils and an entire nation.

Tryon and her teammates have driven South Africa to its first ICC Women’s World Cup final. They'll be up against India in Navi Mumbai and, despite the opposition’s home-ground advantage, Proteas fans know they stand a winning chance.

One of their most ardent supporters is Strini Pillay, Tryon’s former cricket coach and the deputy principal at Scottburgh High School. Brimming with pride this week, he said that since the time he saw her in action as a teenager, he “had no doubt” she would make it to the top of the game.

Tryon was so good, said Pillay, that she was placed in the boys’ cricket team, and players from other schools always relished the chance to face her and see how far she would go in a match. Surprisingly, though, Pillay thought Tryon might have a career in football, another sport in which she excelled.

“In Grade 9, she actually played for the boys’ first team. When we sent her for selection for the under-15 KZN team, she came back and said they recommended her for the under-17 team, even though she was a junior. So, you can see that her abilities were quite good at that stage. And then not too long after, she played for KZN under-19, and she joined the Dolphins team. So, the sky was the limit there.”