South Africa allrounder Madison Landsman claimed the first hat-trick of the first Under-19 Women's T20 World Cup, in Benoni in their Group D clash against Scotland. Landsman, who bowls legspin, finished with 4 for 16 as Scotland were skittled for 68 in their chase of 113.
With Scotland 43 for 5 at the ten-over mark, Landsman was brought into the attack. Her first two overs went for seven singles and a wide, with Nayma Sheikh and Maryam Faisal struggling to put her pace-less bowling away. In Landsman's third over - the 15th of the innings - Faisal tried to pull a shortish ball only to top edge it to the wicketkeeper Karabo Meso.
Niamh Muir then slapped a length ball outside off straight into the lap of captain Oluhle Siyo at cover, who took it on the second go. Landsman then bowled another slow half-tracker around off stump for the hat-trick ball. Orla Montgomery shuffled across her crease and tried to help it past short fine leg but missed it completely to set off wild celebrations from the South Africans.
Landsman then had No. 11 Maisie Maceira caught behind on the last ball of her fourth over to complete a 44-run win. A report on Gsport says the 18-year old's talent was first spotted by a friend of her father while she was playing backyard cricket at Springs in Gauteng. He was the coach of the boys' team in her primary school and invited her to the Under-11 trials. She impressed and took massive strides in the sport playing school cricket.
In 2019, when Landsman was just 14 years old, she was selected to represent Eastern Gauteng Ladies Provincial Cricket Team and in 2020 was part of the Women's Super League, the annual T20 domestic tournament organised by Cricket South Africa. In 2021, she was selected to the South African Under-19 Girls Schools team for the National Cricket Week tournament in Paarl. Two and a half weeks before that tournament, Landsman tested positive for Covid-19, and although it hampered her training, she recovered well in time to inch closer to the dream of representing South Africa, albeit at the Under-19 level.
Landsman, a key component of the middle order, didn't have a great run into this World Cup, aggregating just 19 runs across four innings in a bilateral series against India. But come the opening match of the tournament, also against India, she smashed a quickfire 32 off just 17 balls walking in at No. 5 to help South Africa to a competitive total. She also dismissed Soumya Tiwari to return figures of 1 for 20 in 2.3 overs.
She began the game against Scotland by being dismissed for a duck, but she sure did make amends for it later.