Schools SA20 Profile – Karabo Meso – Steyn City School
The last thing any batter wants is to see Karabo Meso behind the stumps.
Off the field and without the gloves, Meso is an easy-going young lady. She is soft-spoken, always smiling, and humble.
“I am a bit goofy off the field and always try to make people around me smile. On the field, I try to get into the batter’s heads,” Meso revealed.
Give her a pair of wicket-keeping mitts, transplant her behind the stumps, and she transforms into a chatterbox. No one knows this better than Scotland’s Nayma Sheikh.
In 2023, up against South Africa u19, Scotland was on 32/2, needing 81 runs from 78 balls to win. Sheikh, who had just arrived at the crease, found it tough to get off the mark and dead-batted eight consecutive deliveries.
“Welcome to Minecraft. Block. Block. Block,” Meso began her commentary with humour. At one point, she reminded the Scot that she was in a T20 encounter and not a Test match.
When Sheikh misjudged the length of a ball and offered a caught-and-bowled opportunity to Seshnie Naidu, the commentary continued: “She is tired of this, Sesh. She wants to give up. Just give us your wicket, man, I am ready,” Meso urged.
Sheikh was eventually dismissed for 12 off 32 balls. More than anything, she was grateful to no longer have Meso in her ear. Meso is like that with every batter. She assists her bowlers by distracting the opposition. Like all great wicketkeepers, she has a thick skin and is unbothered when the opposition tries to do the same to her.
“I also try to keep my teammates motivated in the field. So, I am always encouraging them, too,” Meso explained.
However, her commentary behind the stumps is far from being her biggest weapon. Meso is lightning-quick. She executes mind-blowing stumpings and completes difficult catches with incredible agility.
She bases her wicketkeeping on another South African star, Trisha Chetty, whom she describes as the real deal. Chetty executed over 180 dismissals in her international cricket, a stat that Meso hopes to come close to matching in her own career. Judging by the quality of her wicketkeeping, it is within range.
“I have to give credit to my coach, Tholang Hlalele. I always wanted to be a bowler. I thought bowling was cool. One day, coach Hlalele took me to the nets and started throwing the ball to me and we did a few ‘keeping drills. That’s when I realised that ‘keeping was fun and unique,” Meso said.
Hlalele has been Meso’s coach since she was five years old. The two met at a KFC Mini-Cricket event at the Elkah Stadium, in Soweto. Back then, Meso wasn’t interested in the sport. She was at the oval escorting her sister, Lehlohonolo Sardick.
“She was sitting on the sidelines, watching the other kids enjoying the game. I handed her a bat and knew immediately that she had talent. She had great hand-eye coordination and picked up length early,” Hlalele, who is also Meso’s coach at Steyn City School, said.
Meso is outstanding with the bat in her hands and in front of the stumps. In one of her best knocks, in October 2024, she carved a sensational century, scoring 128 off 129 balls, with 15 fours and a single six, to lead the Lions’ Women to 296/7 against Free State. Her score was 71 percent of the opposition’s total.
The 17-year-old is a consistent performer with the bat for her school, the Lions, and the South Africa u19 team.
In 2024, she joined Laura Wolvaardt, Marizanne Kapp, Chloé Tryon, Nadine de Klerk, Suné Luus, Masabata Klaas, Nonkululeko Mlaba, and Tumi Sekhukhune in the ranks of Momentum Proteas players to make their international debuts while still in their teens.
Meso will display and utilise her wide array of skills and experience to lead Steyn City’s bid to win the inaugural Schools SA20 girls’ title.
