Thistles, previously known as F van der Merwe XI, are a South African women's cricket team that compete in the

Women's T20 Super League The Women's T20 Super League is a women's domestic Twenty20 cricket tournament organised by Cricket South Africa. The tournament began in September 2019, with four teams taking part; these teams were renamed for a second competition in December 2 ...

. The team has no geographical base, instead being made up of some of the best players from across

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. They are captained by

Andrie Steyn Andrie Steyn (born 23 November 1996) is a South African cricketer who has played 33 One Day Internationals and five Twenty20 International for South Africa since 2014. In March 2018, she was one of fourteen players to be awarded a national contra ...

and coached by Yolandi van der Westhuizen. Their best T20 Super League finish came in

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, when they were runners-up.

History

Thistles were first formed in 2019 to compete in the

, a tournament designed to provide more competitive cricket to the best players in South Africa. For the first edition of the tournament, the side was named after its coach, Francois van der Merwe, becoming F van der Merwe XI. They were captained by Nadine de Klerk. F van der Merwe XI won one of their three matches in the first tournament, therefore finishing third overall. For the following edition of the tournament, which took place two months later in December 2019, the side was named Thistles. de Klerk and van der Merwe were retained as captain and coach, respectively. The side lost all three of their matches, finishing bottom of the table. The third edition of the tournament took place in December 2020.

Angelique Taai Angelique Samantha Taai (born 31 March 1987) is a South African former cricketer and current cricket coach. She played as a right-arm medium-fast bowler and right-handed batter, as well as occasionally keeping wicket. She appeared in 13 One Da ...

became coach of the side, and picked Tumi Sekhukhune as captain in the draft that took place prior to the competition, as well as picking fellow

stars

Shabnim Ismail Shabnim Ismail (born 5 October 1988) is a South African cricketer who made her debut for the national women's team in January 2007. A right-arm fast bowler, Ismail is South Africa's all-time leading wicket-taker in both the One Day Internatio ...

and

Trisha Chetty Trisha Chetty (born 26 June 1988) is a South African cricketer. She has played two Tests, and made one hundred and twenty limited-overs appearances for South Africa since 2007. She plays as a wicket-keeper and right-handed batter. On 17 March ...

. Duchesses won two of their three matches in the tournament, and finished second, just edged out by winners

Coronations A coronation is the act of placement or bestowal of a crown upon a monarch's head. The term also generally refers not only to the physical crowning but to the whole ceremony wherein the act of crowning occurs, along with the presentation of ot ...

on Net Run Rate. Thistles bowler Nobulumko Baneti was the leading wicket-taker in the tournament, with 7 wickets including a best of 4/18, taken in the side's 36 run victory over

Duchesses Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ranke ...

. The tournament returned for its fourth edition in December 2022, with

becoming the side's captain and Yolandi van der Westhuizen becoming coach. The side finished third in the tournament standings, although with five matches abandoned due to rain, no overall winner was crowned.

Players

Current squad

Based on squad for the 2022–23 season. Players in bold have international caps.

Seasons

Women's T20 Super League

Honours

: ** Winners (0): ** ''Best finish:'' Runners-up (

)

References

{{Cricket in South Africa Women's T20 Super League Women's cricket teams in South Africa