So, after telling us that we will have to wait a month before we find out who the new captain of the South African T20 side will be, Cricket South Africa announced on Saturday that it’s Johan Botha who will take the reins.
I don’t think anybody is terribly surprised, most people thought that he would be the natural choice and, while he has some captaincy experience, the problem is that he is not all that he doesn’t really have a permanent spot in the T20 side and, he will now be selected on the merit that he is captain and not because of his performances. Perhaps this will be a good thing for Botha, perhaps this will spur him on to improve on his game and become a better player.
It’s nothing new to Botha to change his game plan, when he started playing he was a medium pacer but former South African coach Mickey Arthur saw something special in him and encouraged him to change his action to turn spin. And he did.
His work paid off and he now averages more than a wicket a game. Both has taken 22 wickets in 21 T20 internationals. That’s not bad for a spinner playing the cricket lottery. As pleased as I a for Botha and as much as I do agree that there was nobody else who really stood out as captaincy candidate for the shortest format of the game, I do feel for him.
In a cricket game where the odds are already stacked against a team and with a public so fickle they will feed their cricketers to the wolves if they just set one foot wrong, Johan Botha has a tremendous task ahead of him.
Graeme Smith learned the hard way just how fickle the South African public can be. While he started off as a brash, arrogant and even slightly irritating captain, he came of age and he won over many. I’ve come under fire on Twitter and on this blog for some comments I’ve made about him but they were very much made in jest. I have a huge amount of respect for Biff.
Despite Smith coming of age and blossoming into not only a tremendous Test captain but also a remarkable player, the South Africa public just weren’t satisfied. If the South African cricket team is not winning every single game, the public is not happy and the nagging chokers tag surfaces, always. Smith has learnt to brush this aside and carry on focusing on not only his game but also on helping and building the team.
That’s the most important lesson Botha can take from Smithers: put your head down and push forward, despite what the public might think, keep going.
Botha is a likeable character, he’s always smiling and always seems positive. Whether he will be thick-skinned enough to deal with South Africa’s fickle fans, we’ll have to wait and see.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Nicely summed up Ant.
Botha seems to be one who will be up for the task and seems to be a bloke who can handle a bit of criticism. Hopefully he won’t have to do it often.
Cheerio!
Yeah, it’s T20 though so blah to that but still….fingers crossed. I like Botha