Cricinfo - Players and Officials

Full name Thami Lungisa Tsolekile
Born October 9, 1980, Cape Town, Cape Province
Current age 27 years 274 days
Major teams South Africa, Cape Cobras, Western Province
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm offbreak
Fielding position Wicketkeeper

Batting and fielding averages

Mat

Inns

Runs

Ave

100

Tests

9.40

177

26.55

First-class

129

2711

101*

23.78

295

List A

594

14.48

148

Twenty20

266

53.20

225

118.22

Bowling averages

Mat

Inns

Balls

Runs

Wkts

BBI

BBM

Ave

Econ

Tests

First-class

List A

Twenty20

Career statistics

Test debut

India v South Africa at Kanpur, Nov 20-24, 2004 scorecard

Last Test

South Africa v England at Port Elizabeth, Dec 17-21, 2004 scorecard

Test statistics

First-class debut

1999

Last First-class

Griqualand West v Western Province at Kimberley, Mar 13-15, 2008 scorecard

List A debut

1998/99

Last List A

Western Province v Border at Cape Town, Feb 16, 2008 scorecard

Twenty20 debut

Western Province Boland v Dolphins at Cape Town, Apr 7, 2004 scorecard

Last Twenty20

Eagles v Cape Cobras at Bloemfontein, Feb 19, 2006 scorecard

Wisden overview

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. Tsolekile has been first-choice wicketkeeper at Western Province for the past two seasons, winning the domestic championship with them in 2001-02. Although his glovework is 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, Tsolekile considers himself a batsman first and a wicketkeeper second. Neil Manthorp

Dec 19, 2004

Thami Tsolekile hollers © AFP

Dec 16, 2004

Thami Tsolekile warms up © Getty Images

Nov 16, 2004

Thami Tsolekile plays a sweep shot © AFP

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