OFF THE RICHTER SCALE
IMPORT’S 130KMH WARNING
THE path to play club cricket in Australia for an overseas player is a well-trodden one.
Usually, it is taken by Englishmen escaping the cold.
There have not been too many South Africans, however, who have made the journey Down Under like Zane Richter.
But the 19-year-old is used to standing out. After all, being clocked bowling at a speed of 130km/h in 2018 will do that.
And now the young firebrand is ready to further his cricket for Newcomb & District this summer.
“Everyone has told me it’s similar to Cape Town and coastal towns in South Africa — and it really is,” Richter said of his first impressions of Australia. “It’s a good club. I’ve fitted in really well here. On the first day I felt this is where I want to be.”
Richter is no cricketing nomad just looking for a holiday. He hails from Gauteng in South Africa, and quickly made his way through the representative ranks.
In South Africa, the school cricket system is the stepping stone to first-class competition, aka Australian Premier cricket.
Richter represented St Stithians College, the No.1ranked cricketing school in the country that has produced Proteas star Kagiso Rabada and New Zealand World Cup hero Grant Elliott.
However, unable to make the provincial (state) Gauteng squad last year, the British passport holder went to Warwickshire in the UK to play and now finds himself in GCA3.
“When I was playing in South Africa I just felt a bit tired and I wasn’t getting picked for teams, and I didn’t feel like I was really going to get anywhere,” Richter said.
“You kind of have to be in the system for them to even look at you and I wasn’t in the system. I just wanted a new start. School level was a good standard, but I want to better my cricket every time. When I finished in the UK I came straight here because I love it.”
The professional cricketing carrot is still dangling for the fast right-armer, but Richter wants to first enjoy his cricket at the Dinos, who host Waurn Ponds-Deakin this afternoon.
“I just want to play to enjoy it,” he said. “I do push myself and have high standards, and maybe if I work hard over time and a few things go my way then people may notice. At least I’d like to make a Premier side here, but we’ll have to see”.
Richter’s first game for Newcomb & District produced a wicketless nine overs against Guild-Saints last weekend, and he admitted he was “jet-lagged massively” after a 21-hour flight.
Fresh and ready to let the red ball fly for the first time this weekend, Richter said he could not wait to see what his Australian cricketing sojourn holds.
“I’ve only been here a week, but honestly I don’t want to leave,” he laughed.
“I’d like to see what happens here. I do want to study here and keep playing cricket.
“It’s completely different, but I love it.”