‘I’m one of the best in the world’ – Lizelle Lee

Lee hammered 352 runs in 11 WCSL matches for Surrey Stars, at an average of 32, and was one of just two players in the tournament to score a century, India’s Smriti Mandhana being the other.

That century came in the final against Loughborough Lightning, with Lee powering a 58-ball 104 that all but took the Stars out of the reach of their opposition. Surrey won by 66 runs, and Lee was declared Player of the Match.

She hasn't had a chance to display that kind of form at the international level yet and is ranked No.16 in the MRF Tyres T20I Rankings for batters, but she believes it isn’t an accurate reflection of her abilities.

“This may sound cocky, but I do believe I’m one of the best in the world,” she told SA Cricket Magazine. “I don’t think my T20 ranking is a true reflection of what I’m capable of but hopefully, I can push into the top five over the next few years and hopefully, I can stay in the top three in the ODI game."

Despite the highs, Lee started her WCSL campaign poorly, with scores of 0, 22, 0 and 3 in her first four matches. She attributed the turnaround to the coaching setup at Surrey.

“In my first five games, I had a rough patch,” she said. “But one of the coaches – Richard Bedbrook – said to me, ‘Listen, you're a great player and one of the best in the world, just play your own game’.

“He told me to give myself a little more time and not try to be explosive from ball one. Once I started to do that, I started to get more runs. This is something I think I should do a lot more.”

The coaching, in fact, was something that really stood out for Lee. While coaches at home in South Africa focussed on bettering the negatives, Lee felt the culture in England revolved around concentrating on the positives.

“We can actually learn a few things from the coaches abroad and the way they approach players,” said Lee. “They told me that I will have a few bad games, but that I will get out of it, so I have to give credit to them for getting me through the bad patch."