Logtenberg recalls a time before Wolvaardt

FROM OMO TO SPRAYED BALLS

- ZAAHIER ADAMS

JOHMARI Logtenberg with former Proteas Women's captain Daleen Terblanche in England. I Supplied

(I Supplied)

A SOUTH African girl cricket prodigy that was equally excellent in academics. Several Matric distinctions with the ambitions of becoming a doctor.

Sounds like a familiar story doesn’t it? One that has been told a thousand times over about the brilliant Proteas Women’s captain Laura Wolvaardt.

But this is not about Wolvaardt. For long before “Wolfie” there was Johmari Logtenberg, who was even younger at 14 years old - Wolvaardt was 16 - when she debuted for the Proteas Women’s team at the Denis Compton Oval in Shenley, England back in August 2003.

And unlike Wolvaardt who only made her Test bow six years after first representing her country in ODI's, Logtenberg went straight into the toughest format of the game.

The teenager did not disappoint either, facing a mammoth 234 balls in her first international innings, scoring 74 in a 138-run fifth wicket partnership with Charlize van der Westhuizen.

Logtenberg’s toughest tests were not on the field though. Women’s cricket, and particularly for the Proteas, was an altogether different beast to the professional setup that Wolvaardt and her team now rightfully enjoys.

Due to playing in Division 2 for KwaZulu-Natal at the time, Logtenberg had in fact never even heard of - let alone met - her Proteas teammates before arriving at OR Tambo International ahead of the departure to England.

“I didn’t even know Linda Olivier and Daleen Terblanche and Sune van Zyl, they all went to New Zealand for the ODI World Cup in 2000, and I think we reached the semifinals there as well," Logtenberg said.

“I didn't even know they existed until it was kind of brought to my attention when I moved down to Durban and our coach at Natal, his sister, played in the national team.