Thami Lungisa Tsolekile (born 9 October 1980) is a South African cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

er who has played three Test

Test cricket

Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...

 matches for South Africa as a wicket-keeper

Wicket-keeper

The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being guarded by the batsman currently on strike...

 in 2004–05. He was educated in Cape Town at Pinelands High. He failed to pass 25 runs with the bat, and though his glovework has been described as sound by Cricinfo

Cricinfo

ESPNcricinfo is believed to be the largest cricket-related website on the World Wide Web. Content includes news,articles, live scorecards,live text commentary and a comprehensive and searchable database called 'StatsGuru', of historical matches and players from the 18th century to the present...

 journalist Neil Manthorp, it was not enough to keep his place against established wicket-keeper Mark Boucher

Mark Boucher

Mark Verdon Boucher is a South African cricketer, who holds the record for the most Test dismissals by a wicket-keeper. He was educated at Selborne College and has represented Border, Africa XI, ICC World XI, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders of the Indian Premier League, and...

. Tsolekile's selection over Boucher also prompted commentaries in the press that positive discrimination

Affirmative action

Affirmative action refers to policies that take factors including "race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation or national origin" into consideration in order to benefit an underrepresented group, usually as a means to counter the effects of a history of discrimination.-Origins:The term...

 had gone too far.

In first class cricket, Tsolekile was a regular wicket-keeper

Wicket-keeper

The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being guarded by the batsman currently on strike...

 and captain

Captain (cricket)

The captain of a cricket team often referred to as the skipper is the appointed leader, having several additional roles and responsibilities over and above those of a regular player...

 of the Cape Cobras. At the beginning of the 2009/10 season, Tsolekile moved up to Johannesburg to go play for the bizhub Highveld Lions, after losing his place in the Cape Cobras side to Ryan Canning

Ryan Canning

Ryan Canning is a South African cricketer, a Western Cape Province wicket-keeper batsman.-Biography:He grew up in Edgemead, Cape Town, and played cricket for Pinelands Cricket Club. He then was signed up by the Cape Cobras as a potential talent. He has shown promise but was never been a regular on...

. During the season so far, he has scored his second first-class century

Century (cricket)

In the sport of cricket, a batsman reaches his century when he scores 100 or more runs in a single innings. The term is also included in "century partnership" which occurs when two batsmen add 100 runs to the team total when they are batting together. A century is regarded as a landmark score for...

 and improved his highest first-class score to 151 not out in a drawn match against Warriors

Warriors cricket team

The Chevrolet Warriors is the name used by the combined Eastern Province and Border first class cricket teams in South Africa. The home venues of the Warriors are St George's Park, Port Elizabeth and Buffalo Park, East London....

 at East London

Buffalo Park

Buffalo Park is a cricket ground in East London, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. It is one of the home grounds for the Warriors cricket team. It can hold up to 20,000.It has hosted one Test match, in 2002 and hosted a number of One Day Internationals....

. He was involved in a South African record partnership

Partnership (cricket)

In the sport of cricket, two batsmen always bat in partnership, although only one is on strike at any time. The partnership between two batsmen will come to an end when one of them is dismissed or retires, or the innings comes to a close In the sport of cricket, two batsmen always bat in...

 of 365 for the sixth wicket with opener Stephen Cook

Stephen Cook (cricketer)

Stephen Craig Cook is a South African first class cricketer, the son of former Test player Jimmy Cook. He is a right-handed opening batsman and very occasional right-arm medium bowler formerly for Gauteng following his debut in 2000, and for Lions since 2009...

, who went on to make a record 390. http://www.cricinfo.com/southafrica/content/story/431114.html

He also played hockey for his country at international level, scoring on debut, and played soccer during his childhood.