In the early hours of Sunday morning a little piece of cricketing history was made which many South Africans may have missed. Kayla Reyneke hit the final ball of a One Day International (ODI) against New Zealand for six to win the match. It’s the stuff cricketing kids dream about when they’re knocking a tennis ball about in the back garden.
It is one of the rarest achievements in ODI cricket, and 20-year-old Reyneke became the first player in history, man or woman, to hit the final ball of an ODI and a T20 International over the ropes to win, having done so against Pakistan last month. What was unique is that both were on debut.
Reyneke’s achievement was enhanced by the importance of the contest, which was the first in a three-match series counting towards qualification for the next 50-over World Cup, the fact that she was in the company of No 10 Tumi Sekhukhune and that 22 were required off the last two overs, 14 off the last and five off the final ball.
Pakistan legend Javed Miandad was the first player to do it — against India — in 1986, but Reyneke joins fellow South Africans Lance Klusener and Ryan McLaren who achieved the feat, also against New Zealand. Klusener belted seamer Dion Nash straight back over his head to square a six-match series in Napier in 1999 in the days when bilateral series really mattered to players.
A delightful rejoinder to that match was that Air New Zealand delayed the departure of the flight that both teams were booked on after the match had been delayed by rain. Klusener and Nash had exchanged some salty verbal exchanges in the closing overs and were, understandably, the last out of the showers. By the time they boarded the plane, there were only two seats left. Next to each other.
McLaren’s effort was all brain over brawn, and no little skill. There aren’t many options when it comes to hitting sixes if the bowler delivers the right ball. The batter must guess the delivery correctly, based on knowledge and experience. McLaren, facing yorker specialist James Franklin, knew what to expect. So, he knelt down and ramped the delivery over fine leg.
Reyneke was facing New Zealand Hall of Famer Suzie Bates. She’d already hit the third ball of the over for six but the next two were dot-balls. She covered both options, off-side and leg-side, with a solid base and stance, deep in the crease. The perfect yorker would be her only undoing. But Bates missed her length by just a metre and Reyneke smote it well over the long-on boundary. She may be young, but she is a keeper. As in, in the starting XI. Not with the gloves. Her bowling is similarly up-beat.
Meanwhile, while some legitimate concern is expressed over the workload of Marco Jansen ahead of a vital season of Test cricket later this year, more and more eyes are turning towards a possible replacement should his body not hold up until October.
Jansen will be playing virtually non-stop for the entire year in the build-up to the October Tests against Australia. Starting with the SA20, Jansen went from the T20 World Cup straight to the IPL, from where he will tackle a month in the MLC, followed by another in The Hundred. He’ll have a month to recover before three ODIs against the Aussies at the end of September, if he’s required for them.
But a ready-made replacement is becoming more and more obvious. It is Duan Jansen, Marco’s older brother by 15 minutes. He may be developing more slowly than his younger twin but he’s irrefutably catching up.
A brilliant maiden List A half century helped the Titans to a dramatic victory in the final of the CSA One Day Cup on Sunday, with Duan finishing the tournament as leading wicket-taker (16 at an average of 18) and sixth in the batting averages with 186 runs at 62.
They have always dreamed of playing for the Proteas together but, should old-school conventional selection wisdom prevail with the nonsensical logic about not having “two of the same” in the XI, Duan is shaping as an oven-ready replacement for his brother. Just as Mark Waugh did for older brother Steve in the Australian team in 1991.
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