South Africa, Cape Cobras, Lions,South Africa A, Western Province
Fielding position:
Wicketkeeper
Batting style:
Right-hand bat
Bowling style:
Right-arm offbreak
Profile
Thami Tsolekile was a prodigy as a youngster. Although known as "Mara" by his friends on the dusty streets of Langa township in Cape Town, principally for his skills with a football at his feet, it was his scholarship to nearby Pinelands school which put him on a path to cricket stardom. At Pinelands, Tsolekile broke almost every existing Cape Town schoolboy cricket record, many of them set a few years previously by Jacques Kallis, and at the same time proved himself a superb hockey player. He went on to play hockey for South Africa at full international level, scoring on his debut, but concentrated on cricket as it offered the chance to make a genuine career from the sport. After making his first-class debut as a 19-year-old in 2000, he captained the South African team at the Under-19 World Cup the following year. His glovework was sound and impressed the selectors on the 2003 A tour of Australia enough to earn him elevation to the full squad for the tour of England which followed. His Test debut came against in 2004 when Mark Boucher was controversially dropped for the tour India. His top-level career lasted three matches and he was dropped following the opening Test against England. In 2009, he transferred to the Lions franchise.
Neil Manthorp June 2009 – www.cricinfo.com
Batting and fielding averages
Mat
Inns
NO
Runs
HS
Ave
BF
SR
100
50
4s
6s
Ct
St
Tests
3
5
0
47
22
9.40
177
26.55
0
0
3
0
6
0
First-class
119
165
21
3949
141
27.42
4
18
387
30
List A
121
81
24
1148
65*
20.14
0
2
167
19
Twenty20
35
23
11
360
52
30.00
316
113.92
0
1
31
4
22
7
Bowling averages
Mat
Inns
Balls
Runs
Wkts
BBI
BBM
Ave
Econ
SR
4w
5w
10
Tests
3
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
First-class
119
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
List A
121
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Twenty20
35
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Career statistics
Test debut
India v South Africa at Kanpur, Nov 20-24, 2004
First-class debut
1999
List A debut
1998/99
Twenty20 debut
Western Province Boland v Dolphins at Cape Town, Apr 7, 2004
