Zaahier Adams
Faye Tunnicliffe is hoping to earn a recall to the Proteas Women’s team after being awarded the Western Province T20 Women’s Player of the Year.
Tunnicliffe has previously played three ODIs and 10 T20s for the Proteas, although her last appearance was against India in Lucknow back in 2021. The 25-year-old is, though, a much-improved cricketer from the rookie that first appeared on the international scene than when she debuted as a teenager in 2018.
Congratulations to Faye Tunnicliffe for winning the WSB WP Women's T20 Player of the Year and WSB WP Women's Players' Player of the Year in the WPCA Awards last night.#WPcricket #westernprovince #WSBNewlands #WSBWP🧡#WPCAawards #GirlsInBlue💙 pic.twitter.com/yAQ5Dfu7fg
She was also the leading run-scorer for the SA Emerging XI that competed in the All-Africa Games in Ghana earlier this year.
This experience has seen Tunnicliffe set herself the long-term goal of competing in the LA Olympics in 2028 when women’s cricket will be introduced for the first time. Equally, she is hoping that she’s done enough now already to warrant a call-up for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup set to be staged in the UAE in October after being moved from Bangladesh due to civil unrest in the Asian country.
“The T20 award … I’m really proud of that,” Tunnicliffe told Independent Newspapers at the WPCA awards at Newlands.
“I was really pushing for that one. There is a T20 World Cup in a couple of months, and T20s will be played at the LA Olympics, so that’s my goal and in my sights.
“I am hoping to make an impact in the national team in T20 cricket too, but that’s not in my control. I’ll just have to wait for my chance.
“I’ve worked hard on facing the new ball because I open the batting and I want to make an impact in the power play. I also really focused on my fitness, trying to be quicker between the wicket, and more athletic in the field, but the biggest thing was also just to enjoy my cricket.”
“One of the biggest blessings I have in life at the moment is that I get to wake up, go to the nets, go for a run, go to the gym, and I can call it my job. That’s amazing!”
Tunnicliffe was also awarded the coveted Players’ Player of the Year award.
“This is the one I’m most proud of,” she said.
“It means the world to me because my teammates had me front of mind when we had to vote. They are the reason I continue to play, they are my support system, regardless whether the day goes well or badly, they are the ones I can lean on.”
The part-time fitness trainer was also thrilled to be awarded these prizes during August, which is, of course, Women’s Month in South Africa. She feels that her generation are trailblazers in South African women’s cricket after the domestic game was professionalised at the beginning of last season.
“One of the biggest blessings I have in life at the moment is that I get to wake up, go to the nets, go for a run, go to the gym, and I can call it my job. That’s amazing!” said Tunnicliffe.
“Women’s cricket is one of the fastest-growing sports in the country. There is certainly a responsibility on our shoulders as the first group of women’s professional cricketers in the country.
“We have to drive professionalism in the game, and have an obligation to the younger girls to make this space better for them, so that it can grow for them. Hopefully we can leave a legacy for them.”