“As much as South Africans want to see Kolpak go, a lot of the English supporters didn’t want to see us there. We almost felt we were outsiders there, and I suppose we were outsiders here in South Africa.” – Kyle Abbott
Telford Vice | Cape Town
“What were you intending? My fishing or the way I look after Christmas? What were you trying to get at there? I’m going with the fishing. Thank you.” Kyle Abbott was joking. Wednesday’s news that he had signed for the Titans for the rest of the 2020/21 season was written up as the franchise having “landed a big fish” — not least because Abbott said he had been “sitting pretty comfortable in Durban [his hometown] doing my fishing” before the deal was sealed. On Thursday, when he gave his first press conference as a Titans player, he had the chance to ask reporters, clearly in fun, questions of his own.
The tenor was starkly different to Abbott’s last presser in South Africa, in January 2017, when he tried to explain why he had chosen to end his international career by signing a four-year Kolpak contract with Hampshire. He was 29. Despite competing for a place in the XI with Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander, Morné Morkel and Kagiso Rabada, he had played in 20 of South Africa’s 36 matches across the formats in the previous year, including half of their 10 Tests. Abbott’s decision sparked anger in South Africa. Unlike others who had exercised this option, he was in the prime in his career and he was being given the opportunities he had earned. What more did the man want? “It’s four years of security and playing cricket is an incredibly insecure environment for anyone,” he said then.
Had being left out of the side, for transformation reasons, for the 2015 World Cup semi-final despite the fact that he was South Africa’s leading bowler in the tournament been a factor? “Ever since I played professional cricket in South Africa there has always been a quota system,” Abbott said. “I have never used it as an excuse and I won’t use it as an excuse now. If you want to buy me some groceries in the next 10 years you are more than welcome to. I need to pay bills. I need to buy groceries. Are you going to buy my groceries?”
It didn’t help that, five days earlier — and five months after he had, unbeknown to his South Africa teammates, signed with Hampshire — Abbott had told another press conference: “The team’s in a great space and so am I. It’s exciting to see what’s going to come. There’s only 90 or so of us who have played Test cricket [for South Africa since readmission] so I count myself incredibly lucky to be able to do it. It’s the place where you want to play your cricket. When Faf [du Plessis] welcomed Theunis de Bruyn into the squad he said, ‘This is where you’re going to be playing your cricket; it doesn’t get any better than this.’ And he’s absolutely right. We’re enjoying our cricket at the moment because we’ve got that attitude of, ‘This is the place, this is where we want to play, this is the place we want to perform and really be tested’.”
Four years on, Abbott has put many more miles on the clock of lived experience. “People don’t realise that it was never an easy decision for any of us, having spoken to a lot of the Kolpaks,” he said on Thursday. “Even life over there is not as easy as people may think, from being away from home for six months to catching quite a lot of flak from people in the crowd. As much as South Africans want to see Kolpak go, a lot of the English supporters didn’t want to see us there. So there’s a lot things we had to navigate. We almost felt we were the outsiders there, and I suppose we were the outsiders here in South Africa.
“But it’s our jobs. I do understand where people are coming from. It’s an emotional thing. It’s a patriotic thing. I get that. It’s stuff that’s on our minds and that we take into consideration. But, for myself definitely, it was purely a career decision. I don’t regret anything.”
Abbott has taken 250 wickets for Hampshire in 90 matches in all formats. In 43 first-class games, he has claimed 183 at 18.78. He was county championship’s third-highest wicket-taker in 2017, joint seventh in 2018, and second in 2019. His haul of 17/86 against Somerset at Southampton in September 2019 were the best figures in global first-class cricket in more than 64 years. Unsurprisingly, Hampshire are keeping Abbott on their books as an overseas professional for at least another two years.
On Thursday he said county cricket had made him a better player than he had been when he abandoned his international career: “I’ve grown a hell of a lot there as a bowler, and probably as a person because I’ve been thrust responsibility. I was the go-to man in most situations and most games. The strength of the overseas players and the other Kolpaks you played against in most teams [made] the brand of cricket incredibly strong.”
In 2004/05, South Africa’s highest level of domestic cricket shrank from 11 to six teams. But CSA’s recent decision to restructure the model means 15 sides split into two divisions — with provision for promotion and relegation — are due to take the field in 2021/22, costing 76 players their contracts. But Abbott approved because the move would reshape the domestic game into something like England’s: “I’ve said for ages that the first-class system in the UK has to among the strongest, if not the strongest, in the world. The amount of teams that are competing every week for something can only strengthen cricket. In division one, the top four or five are competing for the trophy and the bottom guys are competing to avoid relegation. You might only have two or three teams out of it and not playing for much. To have that strength and competitiveness, especially in first-class cricket, is excellent.
“It’s been a long time coming that CSA needed to do something like this and put more value on results. In a normal season here, once you get a couple of rained-out games, especially in first-class cricket, and then maybe a draw, you’re out of [the running] and there’s no way you can get back.
“Now, those remaining games are going to be huge because no-one wants to be relegated. I’ve been on the brink of it in 2017. It went down to the last hour of the last day of 14 first-class games. It’s a horrible feeling knowing that you could go down and play in division two the following year.
“It’s long overdue for South Africa considering the amount of facilities that we have, from Buffalo Park [in East London] to up here in Potch; places that can host good first-class cricket.”
The Kolpak era ended on December 31, when the United Kingdom left the European Union, blocking a drain of talent from South Africa. How did Abbott feel about the hand that has fed him since 2017 being slapped away? “That’s definitely closed a door for a lot of guys, especially guys who have played a Test or so [for South Africa] and then 12 months down the line they don’t see a future anymore. That … can only be good for South African cricket — to keep the players here and to keep the system strong.”
And, he said, he wanted to do his bit in that cause: “Going into next season with more franchises opening, the more experience and the less watered down the system is, the better. We want to see South African cricket in a stronger position. That was one of my reasons for coming back and to play. I feel like I still owe a lot to South African cricket. Even if it is just here with the Titans.
“I’ve already got stuck in. Thando Ntini and I have had some great chats at practice in the last couple of days. I’m pretty happy and I’m excited to impart some of that knowledge back into the system and hopefully see South African cricket stay strong.”
Did he harbour ambitions to use his acquired expertise to return to South Africa’s dressingroom? “It’s not in my immediate view. I’ve had a very tough 2020 not playing cricket [because of Covid-19 international travel restrictions]. So I just need to get back to the where I was 15 or 18 months ago. My objective is to get to playing professionally and back to the level I was at, which is proving to be quite difficult at the moment, I must admit. Although the body’s had enough rest, it’s been difficult getting a competitive edge back.”
But that didn’t mean he wasn’t interested in his former teammates, and he thinks they’re on the up after an indifferent period: “South Africa and the Proteas are always close to me heart and I’ve always got an eye on what’s happening here. As onlookers we don’t know what’s going on inside the environment. But I’ve chatted to guys in the last couple of days, and asking how the national team’s going, and it seems like everyone in that environment is incredibly happy. They seem to think it’s in a very healthy position, which is great news.”
Abbott’s competitive cricket last year amounted to five overs bowled in two matches for the Jaffna Stallions of the Lanka Premier League in November and December. Lockdown at home in South Africa, he said, had taken its toll mentally and physically: “For the first couple of months I was quite happy. In my career spanning 12 years it was the first forced long break. I was enjoying the time off and not feeling guilty that I wasn’t playing anywhere or I wasn’t training or bowling.
“But when they started kicking off in the UK I started to itch. I missed it, more so from a changeroom perspective. My mates there in Hampshire, I missed spending times with them after games. These are the guys you live with, day in and day out.
“I found myself at stages incredibly unmotivated. I would sit for two or three days and think, ‘Why must I gym? Why must I run? There’s nothing coming up. I can’t see an end.’ I think a lot of professional sportsmen went through that at the time. To break away from that and from my home and come up here to the Titans was the change that I needed to try and get back to where I was nearly 18 months ago.”
Abbott’s downtime ends on Saturday, when he turns out for the Titans against the Dolphins — his former franchise — in a one-day game in Potchefstroom. If he does well enough to be summoned to a press conference, he can expect a full house of reporters. Not many players are as worth listening to, because so few say what they think so directly. Respect, Mr Abbott. And welcome back.
First published by Cricbuzz.
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