After the Australian cricket tour of 2002, Jacques Rudolph was very negative. It was a traumatic tour for the South African batsman and he contemplated quitting the game all together. He even sought the help of a psychologist.
But he decided at some point that he did not wanted to be a negative person. Now the 21-year-old Northerns Titans opening batsman is happy that he took that route. On Sunday he was included in the South African touring party to Sharjah and Bangladesh and will make his international one day-debut on the tour. The South African squad will leave on March 28.
Rudolph performed admirably in the 2001/2002-season and was an automatic choice for the tour to Australia. Before his departure for Australia be played for South Africa in the non-official test against India in Centurion.
Rudolph was in the mix for selection for the three tests in Australia. In the match against a New South Wales team just after Christmas, he impressed in both innings and scored a 50. The other two members vying for the same spot, Justin Ontong and Lance Klusener, both failed and were dismissed for ducks in both innings.
Yet after Rudolph was originally selected for the third test, president of the United Cricket Board of South Africa Percy Sonn decided to veto his selection as number six batsman and replace him with Ontong.
Rudolph said on Sunday after Australia he felt negative. ”I’ll be honest. It (the Australian tour) was traumatic. I was negative about the game and it was reflected in my performances. I saw a psychologist for a long time.
”I was thinking of giving up the game.”
It was only after making a decision to willfully change his attitude, that everything changed for the better. ”I decided that a negative attitude was not a way forward. But I just decided that I could not play cricket this way.”
Rudolph felt that a slow but very useful 95 in a one day-game against Pakistan in Benoni contributed to his renewed confidence. He worked extremely hard at his game and the fruit of his labour came in the form of a magnificent 150 in a World Cup warm-up game against the Australians.
When he was dismissed in the 48th over every Australian on the field ran up to congratulate him on his fine effort. Jimmy Maher, a member of the Australian squad, hailed Rudolph’s innings as one of the best he had seen in some time.
Rudolph said he did not mind in which position he was used by the SA selectors on the tour to Sharjah and Bangladesh. He had formed a very good partnership as opening batsmen with Graeme Smith in the SA under 19-team in 1999 and 2000 and said it would be fantastic if they could play together again.
The 21-year-old lefthander said the one aspect of his season that was not up to standard, was his tendency to lose his wicket when well set and having scored a 90.
”I got out on five occasions while in the nineties. I would like to convert that into big hundreds. ” – Sapa