Johannesburg - They say timing is everything, and Keshav Maharaj would probably be the first agree. At various stages of a career that reached its sharpest point this past weekend, he may have felt that time was shutting fast on his dreams, but he never stopped scrapping, or believing in his potential.
And yet, even at his lowest ebb, when he was dropped to the amateur ranks for a term, in 2013/14, he didn’t wallow in self-pity, instead committing himself to getting better with the willow, and more consistent with the leather in hand.
Both those traits have come on in leaps and bounds, as he has just emphasised. First, he bagged the third-best match analysis in the history of first-class cricket in South Africa, as he snapped up (13/157) Warriors scalps with his left-arm spin, to help the Dolphins to an innings and 70 run spanking of their hosts. Just to prove he is no longer a one-trick pony, he added a run-a-ball 72 with his swishing blade.
And it all occurred at a time when the national selectors just so happened to be scouting for spin, preferably with a bit of a batting vertebrae.
His opening weekend of the season got even better on Sunday, though, as his supper was interrupted by a call from Linda Zondi, the convenor of national selectors. Maharaj knows Zondi from the former’s time as an administrator on the KZN Cricket Union staff, but Sunday wasn’t a courtesy call.
It was THE call; the pack your bags and give us your shirt size for the Test team kit’ call. As timing would have it, he was sworn to secrecy by the convenor, at least until the morning, when the news was confirmed by press release.
“My phone hasn’t stopped buzzing since the announcement,” he said from Potch, where the Dolphins are tackling the Lions. “I couldn’t tell anyone, so I was absolutely buzzing on the Sunday night. The boys were pretty pumped up when they heard the next morning, too.”
The boys’, the Dolphins squad, have had plenty to cheer of late. They have watched Andile Phehlukwayo make his international bow, then saw him win a Proteas’ thriller with David Miller - a product Durban still claim as their own, despite the Bloemfontein mailing address - and now Kesh’ has given them further reason to cheer.
Not bad for a franchise that was supposedly in turmoil by the end of last term, without a permanent coach, a CEO, and sponsors who were increasingly twitchy. Though Lance Klusener and his assistant Rivash Gobind have moved on, Maharaj said they had to take a lot of credit for the advancements of several careers of late.
“They played a big role, and encouraged us all to look at the next level. Morgs’ (Grant Morgan) has continued in the same vein, He said I have to work even harder, to make sure I am in the best possible shape for Oz.”
And so, as soon as Maharaj was done with this phone interview, Morgs’ was waiting with a baseball mitt of balls, and an arm ready to throw and throw, and throw some more. The goal is to be jostling for a spot in the Dolphins’ top six in the near future.
“He told me when he started working with us, long before the start of the season, that he saw me as a senior player in the side now. That sort of backing is really motivating,” Maharaj confessed.
Morgan’s sentiments were perfectly timed, because they galvanised a player whose stock has been bubbling happily for over a year now. He was one of few South African A players to emerge with any credit against a powerful England A side last December, with 4/129, and a plucky 36 against a strong attack.
“The game against England A is a long time ago, but I remember it like (it were) yesterday. It’s not often that you come up against that calibre of player, and it was nice to do okay with bat and ball.”
He was named as Players’ Player of The Year by the Dolphins last season, and is known as one of the team's hardest workers. He puts in as many yards into his batting as his flight, and drift, and nagging length.
“Cricket is not my job, it’s my life. So when I didn’t know where I was heading two, three years ago, it was a really tough time. But I was determined to give it my best shot, as that is all I can do. If that wasn’t enough, then I'd at least know that I did my best.”
As it turns out, he is good enough, and his next assignment is the most daunting and most exciting in cricket; Australia away.
The Star