Stiaan can be the man with golden bat and golden arm
DHAKA: South Africa have routinely looked toward the Cape when they needed someone to perform the thankless task of facing up to the new ball in Tests.
And most often it has been the openers that have learnt their trade under the watch of Table Mountain and the Oaks that have gone to serve the Proteas with great distinction.
For many years it was legends such as Gary Kirsten and Herschelle Gibbs who strode to the wicket to take first guard before Gibbs was later joined by the imperious Graeme Smith. Collectively the trio have 308 Tests worth of experience and over 22 000 Test runs.
That is no doubt a tough act to follow for Stiaan van Zyl, the latest to be plucked from the vineyards, but the classy left-hander certainly showed enough in his audition in the first Test last week in Chittagong that he is ready to give it his best go.
Like Gibbs, Van Zyl is not a natural opening batsman but has been converted to suit the needs of the Proteas and is constantly learning and adjusting his technique to ensure he is best equipped for the job.
During this transition phase, it is clear though that he won’t abandon the elegant shots, notably that supreme cover drive, that made everyone sit up and take notice from the first time the then-pimple-faced teenager laced it beautifully over the Newlands carpet.
“Opening the batting is something new for me, but I am enjoying it especially here on the subcontinent. It is better to bat upfront on the subcontinent because the ball is still new and there is still a little bit of pace,” Van Zyl said at the team hotel yesterday.
However, what set the likes of Kirsten, Gibbs and Smith apart from their contemporaries was the way they took full advantage once the hard graft of countering the threat of the new ball was completed.
The trio were masters on feasting once the table had been set and it is here where Van Zyl can look to emulate his predecessors, especially after allowing an error of judgment to creep into his game after he had comfortably moved to 34 in the first innings in the first Test. His opening partner Dean Elgar suffered a similar fate when he was dis- missed for 47.
“I got out in the 30s, and Dean in the 40s. It is certainly something we realise because the ball gets a lot softer very quickly. This makes batting, and particularly run scoring, a little more difficult for the guys coming in. If I do ‘get in’ during the next Test here in Dhaka, I will definitely look to go big,” he said.
The 27-year-old will work on tightening up during training this week in the build-up to the second Test, starting here in Mirpur on Thursday, but batting is not the only thing he will be working on.
Van Zyl is a fully-fledged member of the Proteas’ bowling unit here in Bangladesh with his part-time mediumpace an integral part of the visitors’ strategies. His usefulness stretches beyond simply giving the fast men a breather – although that is very much needed in this humid climate – but it is also his “golden arm” prowess that is often crucial for the Proteas as he is able to conjure up something just a little bit different to create that vital breakthrough.
“The coach told me I had to bowl 10 overs a day, and I eventually bowled 14 overs. I am not fast or anything, but I think with the ball going soft so quickly and the pitch conditions, my bowling is kind of suited to this place.
“I am currently working on the off-cutter to the lefties. Vernon Philander is also my bowling coach, so I chat to him quite a bit.
“I am kind of guy who is always looking for wickets, I am not just there to keep the runs dry. I enjoy bowling because just fielding for 90 overs can become a bit boring.”