Ambidextrous Greg bowls left and right magic
Greg doesn’t know which hand is the strongest
● Gregory Mahlokwana is left-handed, yet there’s things he does with his right hand that make him forget he’s a southpaw.
The 24-year-old spinning all-rounder who plays for the Cape Town Blitz in the Mzansi Super League and the Titans and Northerns in domestic cricket, bowls equally well with his left and right hands. He bats left-handed.
In a recent MSL game, he took wickets with both his left and right arm.
“I don’t know which is the strongest to be honest. I grew up as a left-hander yet I used my right hand with ease. I kick with my right and left foot. On paper, I write with my right hand but when I write on a board, I use my left hand,” Mahlokwana chuckled.
Mahlokwana, the last of six siblings, was convinced by a friend to switch to cricket from football as a 12-year-old.
It reaped immediate rewards as he made the Northerns Under-13 Week team the following year.
It was quite an achievement considering he went to Sedibeng Primary in Refilwe, outside Cullinan in Pretoria.
His rise is all the more remarkable for the fact that he not only went to a local high school, Chipa-Tabane, but his late mother Mashilo wasn’t keen on him taking up the sport. His mother, who didn’t allow him to play cricket in his grade eight year in 2008, passed away the following year.
Mahlokwana said his mother would be happy with him being in a better place.
“My mom didn’t believe much in cricket and from where I’m from, it’s all about soccer. Cricket was seen as a white man’s sport and to go to practice, I needed money and there wasn’t money at home.
“I had to walk and because of having two practices a week, I had to choose between Tuesday or Thursday. If I got money on Tuesday, I’d have to make the 5km walk from home to the Cullinan Sports Centre on Thursday,” Mahlokwana said.
“I was supposed to go to a cricket festival but my mom was sick, but I still went.
“My mother told me I shouldn’t stop playing cricket, so I still went. When I came back,
I went to the funeral in Limpopo. When I made the provincial team, when I was 13, my mom started giving me money to go to cricket, but pleaded with me to stop when I got to high school so I could focus on my academics. I always think of my mom when I play and it would have been nice for her to see where I am now. Wherever she is, I hope she can see me.”
Mahlokwana, who went from a club cricketer to a provincial player without going through Coca-Cola Under-19 Week and South African Schools pipeline, credited his hero Albie Morkel and Titans coach Mark Boucher as his God-sent helpers.
The duo came across Mahlokwana on the recommendation of former Northerns semiprofessional coach and current Titans High Performance manager Mark Charlton at the end of 2016.
At the time, Mahlokwana was studying in King William’s Town and played club cricket as an opening batsman for the University of Fort Hare on a bursary.
“Charlton called me and said Boucher needed someone who bowls like the Warriors spinner Jon-Jon Smuts. The Titans were going to play against the Warriors in a T20 and they needed to prepare. I was told I was the right person to do so,” Mahlokwana said.
“I was there as a net bowler and we had two sessions. I was just bowling to the guys and they were impressed. He then told Morkel, who thought I could also bowl left-arm doosra. I told him I can bowl with my right arm and he didn’t believe me. After I bowled to him, he asked if I have plans for the following year. I told him I need to complete my studies.
“He told me I’m going nowhere and I couldn’t believe it. They fast-tracked my staying process and I didn’t know what to say or do.”
Charlton, who gave Mahlokwana his domestic bow in 2017, recalled a game where Mahlokwana weaved his mixed magic unexpectedly.
“We brought him back because we were in need of the skills he possessed. We encouraged it because skills are different and the game needs them.
“I picked him for a crucial 50-over game against NorthWest in Potchefstroom and he wasn’t in the original 11. We needed to win the game to make the final,” Charlton said. “Something inside me during the warm-up said I must pick him and when I saw the pitch, I told him he was to play. I changed the team list shortly before I sent it to the umpires, he played. He took three cheap wickets and won the game. That’s when I knew there was something special.”
He took three cheap wickets and won the game. That’s when I knew he was something special Mark Charlton
Titans High Performance manager