This is only the beginning — Nortje
Winning two awards at the CSA Awards for the 2019/2020 season was only the start of a long list of goals Proteas fast bowler Anrich Nortje will be looking to achieve as he takes his international career forward.
In what was his first season on the international cricket scene, Nortje was awarded the International Men’s Newcomer of the Year award, in addition to the Delivery of the Year award for his dismissal of David Warner in a six-wicket win over Australia in March.
While grateful for the recognition, Nortje feels his journey with the national side is only starting.
“It was a tough but good season, and I really enjoyed it.
“It’s also nice to get some reward at the end of the day, but there is still so much work to do,” Nortje said.
Asked if he expected his accolades, the 26-year-old right arm quick said it was not at the forefront of his thoughts in the lead-up to CSA’s first ever virtual awards evening.
“Obviously if you are nominated you do think about it, but I tried not to think about it too much, because it [the outcome] was not something I could control.
“For me, just being nominated was a great thing — to win something was just a bonus,” Nortje said.
Summing up his year with the senior national side, he said it had been a bit of an adjustment in the beginning, but overall it was a very productive year.
“We worked on quite a lot once things began to settle down and I got used to everything.
“The team is outstanding. “Everyone is there for you and tries to help you, so it felt great getting into that environment.
“Starting in India, there were a lot of ups and downs, but we learnt a lot from that.
“I think the team did some great things towards the end of the season and it showed the guys gelled really well and it also showed the country what they were capable of,” Nortje said.
Speaking about the Delivery of the Year accolade, Nortje said he had just tried to do something different when bowling to the powerful Warner.
“I think it was more about the series than a couple of balls.
“A lot of the time I was bowling over the wicket [to him. We had long discussions regarding that and at the end of the day, making the change to bowl around the wicket to him paid off.
“It was not just one game or a couple of balls, it was a couple of games where my action and how I delivered the ball differed from some guys who preferred to bowl over the wicket [to Warner].
“Unfortunately I realised it a little bit late, but it was a nice challenge for me to be able to take my action and the conditions into consideration, and be rewarded with the wicket, even if he didn’t know about it,” he said.
Looking ahead, Nortje said there was still much he wanted to achieve and that he would keep working on improving.