Neil Manthorp in Christchurch Cricket
Gary Kirsten’s contribution to South Africa’s seven-wicket win over New Zealand on Wednesday night would have been seen as routine two years ago but this time his 81 not out might prove to be a watershed.
It just doesn’t matter how much you have played, and how much experience you have, there comes a point – there always comes a point – when you doubt yourself. Doubt whether you can still do it; doubt about whether you’ve lost it.
Two years ago Kirsten was on top of the one- day world, averaging nearly 50 after 50 matches. Only Zaheer Abbas and Viv Richards had better averages after as many games. After 50 matches Kirsten was worth 48,11 runs per innings. Sachin Tendulkar, by way of comparison, was worth 33,63 after 50 matches.
Then, as so often happens, some mildew began to grow in a quiet corner and before he knew what was happening, his whole one-day game smelled musty and began to curl up at the edges. Everyone told him it was still edible but he was concerned; very concerned.
“There is no doubt that my mind wasn’t right at times. I guess everybody goes off the boil, but I certainly did.
“I have never, ever not felt like playing for my country, but there have been times when I’ve struggled to concentrate and I’ve lapsed into bad habits,” he says with no attempt to deny the moments of doubt that kept him “. on my toes.”
“Sometimes,” he says with a whimsical smile, “you feel like the bloody world’s falling in on you!”
Before Wednesday’s innings “The Ledge” (short for “Legend”, the nickname his team mates gave him in India two years ago when he scored 84 and 105 not out in the first two matches of the Titan Cup, to win both man-of- the-match awards) had gathered a meagre 80 runs in his last 10 one-dayers.
“When I was playing really well I almost believed I could score a hundred every time as long as I got through the first 15 overs. That’s the time when you need to take a few risks to capitalise on the fielding restrictions. After that, if the pitch was fair, I could just push it around and accumulate.”
The trouble over the last 10 matches has not been so much getting past the first 15 overs, but the first 15 balls. He failed to do so in five of those 10 innings. “There are lots of reasons that might have contributed; a change of ball (Kookaburra to Dukes and back again), and a bit of staleness, but mostly it is mental. I just needed to get my mind right.
“I was really looking forward to New Zealand because it was a change of scenery, a chance to start fresh. I might not have been the only one to go a bit stale against the West Indies – it was difficult playing them at the end of the summer because they were so clearly disjointed and struggling – but because I was always facing the first ball I was, maybe, a bit more exposed than the other guys.”
The collective sigh of relief from the South African dressing room when Kirsten passed 50 was almost audible from the public stands.
“We need Gary’s experience. When he is in form the team always plays well. When he struggles, we struggle. His record speaks for itself, so I always knew he would come right, although I was beginning to wonder when!” Hansie Cronje admitted.
For the duration of Kirsten’s international career he has eschewed the trappings of fame. Initially he regarded himself as too much of a “tradesman” to eat at the craftsmen’s table and then, when he started scoring hundreds and his international profile rose to join that of Donald, Rhodes and Cronje, he took to “hiding” – avoiding high-profile functions, if possible, and declining to accept the public’s need to congratulate him.
It worked. He earned, justifiably, a reputation as a modest man but another of sport’s whimsies came home to roost. You may be able to hide when you’re successful, but the glare from the spotlight of failure is even brighter than the one from success.
“Everybody was asking what was wrong, and the advice came from all quarters. I listened, but I always knew that no one could score the runs for me. I went from being positive to thinking that maybe I wouldn’t even go to the World Cup. That was the worst.
“I’ve always said that this is a cruel game. The greatest batsmen in the world only succeed in one out of every four innings (by scoring 50 or more), so you have to be very good at accepting failure and getting over it.
“I don’t pretend to be anything I’m not, and I’m certainly not one of the world’s great batsmen! But what I have got works for me and I’ve had some success with it. I guess Barry Richards always knew there was another century just around the corner, but when you’re Gary Kirsten and you have a lean patch, you can’t be quite so confident .”
Quixotically, the last piece of advice Kirsten received before Wednesday’s match came from another of South Africa’s “natural” talents, Mike Procter. “He reminded me that I’d scored eight one-day hundreds by being positive and aggressive from the start, not being afraid of failing.”
It was simple advice, but so much more apt than telling him to strengthen the bottom hand or some other fangled technical tip.
With a successful, slightly stressful but nonetheless very enjoyable benefit year entering it’s final stages, and the all- important world cup rising on the horizon, South African cricket can hope that the footlights will fade on Gary Kirsten and he will melt back into the comfortable glow of routine success in which we had all become so used to seeing him. He likes it that way.