Malikah Hamza is a talented leg-spinner, has a mean bowling style, plays for a senior women’s team in South Africa and is eleven years old. Yes, that’s right she’s eleven.
She’s also the the youngest cricketer ever to play against a senior international cricket side in a T20 match. Feel unaccomplished yet? Well keep reading.

Multi-talented Malikah, who recently became the first female cricketer in the world to receive a Royal Club sponsorship deal with world renowned cricketing brand Slazenger, is also the youngest professional hockey player in SA after she was awarded a professional hockey contract from Mr.Price Sport at the age of nine, reports SASchoolSports.

Most people remember her match against Zimbabwe, when she got her first chance to bowl and it was in her second over that she pitched the ball on the off stump and hit the middle stump to clean bowl the Zimbabwe opening bat, in a very Paul Adams like move.

WP Senior Ladies coach, Kobus Rhoode, says to CDN sport that Malikah is a hugely talented cricketer. He foresees a long term cricketing career for her. He says that he is very excited about the prospect of working with her and believes that if she is managed correctly she would definitely achieve national colours in the near future. He also says that he advocates the phrase ‘that if you’re good enough, you are old enough’.

Scroll reports that the boys tend to sledge her a bit and when she’s batting, the wicket-keeper might tell the bowler to “Get my girlfriend out”. “That’s their favourite chirp,” said Hamza. Or when it’s her turn to bowl and she takes wickets, the chirps flow both ways. “Then my teammates will tell the batsman, ‘you got bowled by a girl’.”

But Hamza is far better than the boys her age. In the 2013-2014 season, she won five of the six awards handed out by the club in her division, including best batsman, best bowler and best all-rounder.

More to girl power we say!