Chloe Tryon bats during the ICC Women’s World Cup 2025 match between South Africa and Bangladesh on 13 October in Visakhapatnam, India. (Photo: Pankaj Nangia / Getty Images) 
Soccer lovers know that one of the most important positions in a team is box-to-box midfielder. They are utility players – the underappreciated garbage cleaners. They cover almost every blade of grass as they try to contribute to the team’s attack and defence.
That is the best analogy for Chloe Tryon’s role in the Proteas Women. She’s a great all-rounder, but the plaudits are usually reserved for top-order batters and the bowlers.
Marizanne Kapp is usually the Proteas all-rounder on whom the opposition focuses. With good reason – she’s one of the greatest cricketers to play the game. However, Tryon is also a lethal weapon to have in a team.
Cricket has always favoured fast-bowling all-rounders. Tryon is a spinner; she chips in with the odd important wicket, but is also crucial for slowing down the scoring momentum of rivals. With the bat she is as belligerent as anyone.
Mastered her role
Over the years Tryon has worked on mastering this niche role, even though she’s rarely in a position to score a century with the bat or grab a five-fer with the ball.
“I have always said I want to make sure… I do the best that I can for the team,” Tryon told Daily Maverick. “I know sometimes with the bat I might be in different situations. I might be coming in a little bit earlier, which means I might have to be a little bit slow and build a partnership in the middle.
“Or I might have to come in at the back end and hit sixes and fours – all the fireworks. So, I understand the role a lot more now… It’s about making sure that I’m there until the end, taking the team over the line,” she added.
Tryon’s consistency with the bat in particular sees her sitting second on the list of women’s cricketers with the most consecutive innings played without being dismissed for a duck in one-day internationals (ODIs). Before being dismissed without scoring as South Africa capitulated to 97 all out against Australia in the group stage of the 2025 ICC Women’s World Cup, Tryon scored for 80 successive innings between February 2016 and October 2025.
“Even when I’m not taking any wickets but my economy is fine, I’m usually happy. As long as I’m making sure that I’m doing the best I can for the team and making sure we’re heading in the right direction.”
Bittersweet World Cup
At the World Cup, the Proteas Women reached the final, but they lost to hosts India by 52 runs. Tryon scored 176 runs and took six wickets in the tournament. She was even named player of the match after South Africa beat Bangladesh by three wickets with just three balls remaining. Her haul of 62 runs and a wicket pulled the Proteas over the line. In the final she collected another wicket, but she was not as effective with the willow, making just nine runs from eight balls faced.
Despite not being able to help South Africa win their maiden limited-overs World Cup, Tryon is proud of the Proteas reaching a third successive global decider, especially after starting the tournament with a 10-wicket walloping by England.
“It was a good World Cup. We did not start how we wanted to start. But to bounce back after that first game against England, win five in a row and anchor our campaign was really good. We played our best game in the semifinal and fell short in the final,” Tryon said.
“I was happy with my performances. I was relatively consistent throughout. I wish I was better in the last game. But I was really happy with my overall performance. I came in a little bit earlier sometimes under pressure situations. But coach Mandla [Mashimbyi] had also spoken to me about making sure that as a senior player I take it as deep as I can and take the responsibility.”
The evolution of cricket
Tryon picked up her first cricket bat as a three-year-old and quickly fell in love with the game, but she did not have many role models who looked like her. Her story is similar to those of her teammates: in her formative years she was forced to play with boys.
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2240735200.jpg "Chloe Tryon bowls during South Africa’s Women’s World Cup 2025 match against Bangladesh, which the Proteas won. (Photo: Pankaj Nangia / Getty Images)")
Women cricketers were an anomaly, and that is still the case in some spaces. Girls are therefore still playing catch-up to boys in terms of development. Not many schools in South Africa offer girls the same sporting opportunities they offer boys – 15 years after Tryon (31) made her international debut.
“It’s crazy how much the women’s game has grown,” the Durbanite said. “When I first joined the team, the scores were very low. We didn’t have a lot of skill. We didn’t have a lot of training sessions or camps or anything like that.
“So, it’s great to see how much the game has grown now and how much the girls have improved. They’re posting scores of 360 and it’s really hard to set fields for them if you’re bowling to them. It’s become so competitive now.”
Looking forward
Even though progress has been made and the Proteas are playing their part in changing how women athletes are viewed in male-dominated sports, Tryon wants to continue playing her part in ensuring the growth of the women’s game, especially since she is now a role model herself.
“It’s just so nice to still be part of it, especially from being there as a youngster coming in, to see how much it’s grown. I know it can only grow even more from here. I’m making sure that I leave a little bit of a legacy for the youngsters coming in.
“I’m doing it with the youngsters. I’m sharing as much knowledge as I can, but [after retirement] I would love to come back and give to the sport. It’s given me a lot throughout my career and it’s only fair that I give back. So hopefully when I do retire, I’ll come back into this space,” said Tryon.
“But there’s another 50-over World Cup in four years… God willing, I’ll still be playing. But things happen along the way, so this could potentially have been my last 50-over World Cup.”
As for the immediate future?
The Proteas Women are set to host Ireland for a limited-overs series in December. Tryon has her eyes on that because she views it as the beginning of a new World Cup chapter for the Proteas – one that will hopefully end in overall success this time. DM
This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.
