Marizanne Kapp

After making her international debut at the 2009 ODI World Cup, Marizanne Kapp has evolved into a proper match-winning player, one of the premier allrounders in the game.

She holds the record for the highest score by a South Africa player at a women's World Cup: 102* against Pakistan in Cuttack in 2013. During the course of that innings, she also forged a 128-run stand with Dane van Niekerk, which is the highest partnership for South Africa at a World Cup. She took 3 for 18 with her medium pace in the same game to ensure her side progressed to the Super Sixes stage. She has gone from strength to strength since.

A talented athlete who has also represented Eastern Province in netball and athletics, Kapp has been at the forefront of South Africa's resurgence since 2014. She starred with 23 and three wickets in South Africa's maiden victory over New Zealand in women's internationals, at the T20 World Cup that year, which helped them qualified for the semi-finals for the first time. The previous year, she had also become just the third woman to take a T20I hat-trick, against Bangladesh in September.

Having finished a degree in sports management, she became one of the beneficiaries of Cricket South Africa's contracts system that came into force in October 2013. In 2015, she was one of only four South Africans to feature in the inaugural WBBL. She finished the tournament with 17 wickets at an economy rate of 4.28 - the best in the competition - for runners-up Sydney Sixers.

Kapp has since been a prolific export to franchise cricket: she was a key contributor to Sixers' two title wins, before she moved on to Perth Scorchers, scoring 229 runs at a strike rate of 143.12 and picking up 12 wickets at 22.50 in 2023 to prove she was as good as ever in the format despite not being as young anymore. She was also the Player of the Match when Oval Invincibles reached the final of The Hundred, and has been the leader of the bowling attack for Delhi Capitals in the WPL.

Though South Africa have not played much Test cricket in her time, Kapp has left her mark in the format too. Her presence proved clutch when she walked out with the side 45 for 4 in their Test against India in Taunton in 2022. She scored 150 and kept her side in the match. She has publicly advocated for more red-ball cricket for the women's side, and is one of the strongest voices for the women's game in various fora.