Source: The Popping Crease (X)
Redemption is an interesting word as it drives an emotion so powerful to get back at someone who perhaps has been a key reason for one’s obliteration.
A look at what’s happening in the world right now and one would have their answer.
Well for South Africa, this emotion came to the fore yesterdayalbeit in cricketing terms after they won a crucial and toughly contested series against the BlackCaps 3-2 extracting redemption in the process for the annihilation, they received by this very nation in the T20 World Cup semifinal amid the not-so-distant past.
The misery of the second last hurrah was a scar much toodeep for every Protea faithful to recover from, but as luck would have it, they contested another T20I series immediately after against the same very opposition in their own backyardwith a new-looked and may I say young team that was able to get a certain sense of retribution.
A feeling of relief too clubbed with the aforementioned R word if one were to be brutally honest.
And this courtesy a new talent, another keeper-bat amid the massive reserves that the Proteas have produced over the last decade or so in this discipline, with the likes of Quinton deKock, Heinrich Klaasen, Ryan Rickelton, Luhan-drePretorious and now the latest addition in Connor Esterhuizen.
A 24-year-old from the bubbling streets of Johannesburg who was the highest run scorer in this latest excursion against the BlackCaps amassing 200 runs at a strike rate of 146 and an average of 50 with two refreshing fifties to his name.
Double in-terms of runs to the next best, Devon Conway.
Yes, let this sink in!
And this after Esterhuizen had almost given up on the game at the onset of Covid having not been selected in the teams he was extremely keen to represent.
Well, we should undoubtedly thank the Almighty that this youngster didn’t give up on his cricketing pursuits as the results are now bearing fruit after some grinding seasons in the domestic circuit that has seen him mount more than 1200 runs at a remarkable average of 49.80 in 21 First Class games and a further 381 runs in 13 List A games, again at an impressive average of 47.62.
In addition to the prolific run scoring, what’s impressed me most about this youngster is his calm and unflustered demeanour at the crease and the patience with which he waits for the ball to play it late and chose his areas of scoring.
In fact, the six that he hit yesterday in the fifth T20I over cover was perhaps one of the better shots that I have seen in the recent past which make no mistake is a very tough angle to get a maximum.
This was also the cherry on his run scoring cake as he mounted 75 runs of just 33 deliveries which helped the Proteas seal the game by 33 runs en route to also securing the series.
Though Connor has just been exposed to the T20 scheme of things in international cricket as things stand, he definitely fits in the mould of the red ball game with what he has demonstrated this far and sooner than later coach Shukri Conrad should take that step to expose him to the longest format.
After all, for those who cherish the purity of the game over its noise, it is the longest format that etches a cricketer’s name into time. That’s why it is called Test cricket, isn’t it?
For now, Connor Esterhuizen has only just stepped onto the international stage—but these are merely the opening notes. The true measure of his story awaits in the unforgiving theatre of five-day cricket, where reputations are forged, character is revealed, and legacies are written to endure.