U19 Women’s T20 WC: Going to help everyone who is in same shoes I was in, says Meso

New Delhi: Ahead of making her second appearance in the ICC U19 Women’s T20 World Cup, South Africa wicketkeeper-batter Karabo Meso said she is committed to helping those young players who’ve been in her position previously to come good in the tournament.

Karabo, who has two senior women’s T20I appearances, is one of the seven South African players set to take part in the ICC U19 Women’s T20 World Cup for the second time, when it begins on January 18 in Malaysia. South Africa are in Group C alongside New Zealand, Nigeria and Samoa.

“I never thought of being a senior player. I’m going to help everyone who is in the same shoes I was in, at their first World Cup. We won’t be hard on them, because it’s their first and our second. We’re just going to tell them what I was told in 2023, just do your best,” said Karabo in a statement issued by the ICC on Monday.

Recalling when she got her senior team call-up, which happened for the T20Is against Sri Lanka, Karabo mentioned she got the news competing in the Africa Games in Ghana. “When I got that call, everything went silent.”

“It all happened really quickly. It shows that as much as you can plan your life, these moments won’t happen when you want them to happen. I couldn’t believe it, suddenly I was in a team with people I had only seen on TV.”

Asked about the learnings she took from her time in the senior women’s set-up as a 16-year-old, Karabo said, “The best thing was seeing all of the players’ routines before and after the game, how they managed themselves, it’s really amazing. Whenever I was sitting on the ground, I would observe everyone, what they’re doing and what is working, right down to how they put their gloves on!”

Karabo comes from a family of athletes with her mum playing netball and her father pursuing softball. She was introduced to cricket while watching her sister playing a game. She then left sprinting to pursue cricket, and even take up wicket-keeping, a path which got her to play the first-ever U19 WC for South Africa at home in 2023.

“Their coach wasn’t happy with what they were doing on the field. He said, ‘Hey, come here’ and started throwing me balls in the nets. We were going for an hour and he told my mum, ‘You should bring her to practice, she’s got potential'. Being a good keeper is about being the loudest person. Just speaking, chirping all the time, helping to set the field, that makes a good keeper.”