| Personal information | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Sheila N Nefdt | |||
| International information | ||||
| National side | South Africa | |||
| Test debut | 2 December 1960 v England women | |||
| Last Test | 13 January 1961 v England women | |||
| Domestic team information | ||||
| Years | Team | |||
| Unknown | Rhodesia women | |||
| Career statistics | ||||
| Competition | Test | |||
| Matches | 4 | |||
| Runs scored | 211 | |||
| Batting average | 30.14 | |||
| 100s/50s | 0/2 | |||
| Top score | 68 | |||
| Balls bowled | 174 | |||
| Wickets | 2 | |||
| Bowling average | 54.00 | |||
| 5 wickets in innings | 0 | |||
| 10 wickets in match | 0 | |||
| Best bowling | 1/16 | |||
| Catches/stumpings | 0/– | |||
| Source: CricketArchive, 6 November 2009 | ||||
Sheila Nefdt or Sheelagh Nefdt is a former South Africa Test cricketer. She captained South Africa in all four matches of their debut series in Women's Test cricket against England in 1960–61. She played provincial cricket for Western Province, and in 1953–54, she made the first recorded hattrick in South African women's cricket at Cape Town, actually taking a double hattrick.[1] Western Province went on to win the Simon Trophy that season, as they had in the two previous to it.[1]
She was named captain of the South African squad to play the touring English women in 1960–61. Nefdt batted at number five in the first Test, scoring 24 runs in the first-innings before being stumped.[2] For the second-innings, she dropped herself one place down the batting order, to allow Eileen Hurly, scorer of 96* in the first-innings to come in ahead of her.[2] Hurly, however, was run out for just 38, while Nefdt made 62 before declaring the innings with South African leading by 284 runs.[2] Nefdt bowled 16 overs between the two innings, claiming the wicket of Anne Sanders in the first, and Rachael Heyhoe in the second.[2]
In the second Test, after England won the toss and scored 351, Nefdt and her South Africa team scored slowly, a first-innings 134 taking 95 overs, with Nefdt contributing 8 to the score.[3] Similar slow scoring in the second innings helped South Africa force the draw, still trailing by 77 runs with eight wickets down in their second innings following on when the match finished.[3]
The third Test again saw South Africa dismissed cheaply twice. A 55-run fourth-wicket partnership in the first-innings between Nefdt and Hurly, and an 83-run fifth-wicket partnership between Nefdt and Barbara Cairncross in the second were the only highlights in a match that South Africa lost by eight wickets.[4] Nefdt scored her second half-century in Test cricket during the second-innings, top-scoring among the South Africans with 68.[4]
Nefdt fell for a duck in the first-innings of the final Test in Cape Town, a pitch that saw high-scoring innings from Ruth Westbrook and Helen Sharpe for England, while Yvonne van Mentz scored South Africa's first century in Test cricket.[5] Promoting herself to open in the second-innings, Nefdt added 11 to the score before being caught and bowled by Anne Sanders for the second time in the match.[5]