“We feel he will be good in the leadership space.” – Rob Walter on Rassie van der Dussen.
Telford Vice / Franschhoek
NORTH West University and Vancouver Knights are among the teams Rassie van der Dussen has captained, along with Northerns and the Lions. Next week he will add another side to the list: South Africa.
Van der Dussen will lead the national team in three T20Is against West Indies at Sabina Park from Thursday to Saturday. Then he will make way for Aiden Markram for the T20 World Cup. Make way in every sense: Van der Dussen, the second highest runscorer in men’s T20Is this year, is not in the World Cup squad, much less the captain.
Yet he is the epitome of the followable player; an example in pads, a serious, thinking cricketer who looks, sounds and acts as if he has never made a rash decision. Indeed, South Africa’s mid-match, on-field committee meetings invariably include Van der Dussen. But, in the 612 matches he has played from his first-class debut in February 2008, he has led teams only 21 times. Or for 4.43% of his serious career.
How? Why? Because, it seems, someone else has always been in the way. Van der Dussen has played under nine different captains for South Africa. Faf du Plessis was in charge when Van der Dussen made his international debut in a T20I against Zimbabwe in East London in October 2018. Then he spooled through captains JP Duminy, David Miller, Quinton de Kock, Heinrich Klaasen, Temba Bavuma, Dean Elgar, Keshav Maharaj and Markram. Some of those players might be better leaders than Van der Dussen, others are decidedly not. But it will surprise no-one who has met Van der Dussen that he has agreed to step into the breach while Markram wraps up the IPL with Sunrisers Hyderabad. Because that’s what decent blokes do.
“[Van der Dussen] brings a wealth of experience,” Rob Walter told a press conference in Pretoria on Friday. “We feel he will be good in the leadership space.” Let no-one accuse Walter of over-statement.
Van der Dussen will be happy to have De Kock, Anrich Nortjé and Gerald Coetzee back from the IPL. They are proven performers, and they have been kept in good nick by playing in the tournament. Or have they? Thirty-five players have scored more runs than De Kock in the IPL and 45 have taken more wickets than Nortjé, who has an economy rate for the tournament of 13.36. At least Coetzee is among the top 20 wicket-takers.
Might that create an opportunity to impress for Nqaba Peter, the 21-year-old leg spinner whose dazzling smile and 20 wickets at 9.50 illuminated the otherwise dull CSA T20 Challenge — and who has made the squad for the Windies series despite having played only 20 representative games across the formats?
“I’m happy about the way things have gone,” Peter said in an audio file CSA released on Thursday. “I’ve really put in time when no one’s watching, you know. I’ve focused on the basics, but those small adjustments make a difference, and I couldn’t be any more chuffed about the way the CSA T20 challenge went. I’ve met some amazing people who have added value to my life, and I feel like I can only go up from here.”
What did he do when Walter called him to tell him to pack for Jamaica? “I called my mom to let her know. I didn’t tell her I’m going to the West Indies, though, because I know she gets very emotional.”
So she should. But relax mom. With Walter and Van der Dussen in control, the kid’s in good hands.
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