Klaasen’s mental block war
No frills, no spills, only thrills…
HEINRICH Klaasen enthusiastically admits that his game is free of “tierlantyntjies” (frills).
The 25-year-old graduate of Menlo Park High in Pretoria doesn’t mind being just a plain old cricketer because “plain old” sees him on a flight to Auckland today when he will hook up with the Proteas Test squad for a three-match series against New Zealand starting in Dunedin on March 8.
Klaasen, who, along with fellow Menlo High alumnus Theunis de Bruyn, was named in a 16-man squad to tackle the Black Caps, says his approach to the game is simple. “I hit the ball and I catch the ball.”
That’s the approach, but that doesn’t mean Klaasen is so naive as to think that’s all that’s required to make it at international or even franchise level. “In order to do those things you need a good technique,” he says.
The “no frills” approach first highlighted by Cricket SA’s National Academy coach Shukri Conrad, who described Klaasen as a “poor man’s MS Dhoni”, has worked particularly well for Klaasen this season, although he admits it’s taken a great deal of mental application for him to realise that he was good enough, just to play for the Titans.
“I struggled mentally, I did doubt my ability and towards the end of last season I did some work with Rob Walter (for mer Titans coach) and then, of course, with Mark Boucher when he came. They helped me get in a good mental space, to back myself more.”
The mental side of the game is an element Klaasen refers to constantly, and it’s an area that for him is continually evolving. Every aspect of his game feeds back to it; from training specific wicketkeeping techniques with current Titans coach Boucher, or just interacting with players who’ve been in the Proteas set-up like Dean Elgar and Chris Morris.
Klaasen admits, his selection for the New Zealand tour was unexpected. “This is my first fullish season at franchise level, you look at someone like Rudi Second who’s been performing well for a few seasons in four-day cricket, so for me… this has come quite soon.”
Indeed, Second, still just 27, was in sizzling form in the second half of the Sunfoil Series, scoring two of his three centuries in this season’s competition. He finished with an aggregate of 684 runs, 49 more than Klaasen.
Klaasen and De Bruyn are the only two uncapped players in the squad, with the selectors also recalling Morris and Morné Morkel, after the latter had shown that he was over his back ailments. Those two, along with Duanne Olivier and Wayne Parnell will battle it out to join Vernon Philander and Kagiso Rabada in the starting XI for the first Test.
Keshav Maharaj is the sole front line spinner.