CAPE TOWN - Five months ago Dane Piedt’s world had come crashing down. The off-spinner was left out of the Proteas squad to tour Australia – a series Piedt had publically dubbed “the World Cup of tours” – for a Test cricketer.
In addition to dealing with the personal disappointment of being dropped from the national team, Piedt was at the centre of a crisis unraveling at his franchise the Cape Cobras.
There seemed to be no escape for a player that only a few months ago had completed one of the most remarkable comebacks from injury. The gloom was starting to reflect in his performances and Piedt became vulnerable to pursuing options overseas and the possibility of signing a Kolpak deal.
“I was gutted. Playing a Test series in Australia was a big thing for me. I thought I had done reasonably well after coming back from injury. The conditions in the winter series against New Zealand wasn’t favourable for spinners and I thought I had done what was asked of me,” Piedt told Independent Media on Monday after being recalled to the Proteas Test squad for the final Test in New Zealand.
“It did not help that the environment at the Cobras was not healthy at the time either. I was very frustrated and seriously considered signing a Kolpak contract. I wanted to get away from everything and everybody, but then Ashwell Prince sat me down and something changed within me. He was going to be the Cobras coach and the franchise wanted me to lead the side. The captaincy at the Cobras changed my entire outlook. I wanted to stay. I wanted to fight again.”
Dane Piedt has been called to join up with the Proteas Test team in New Zealand. Photo: Chris Ricco/BackpagePix
Before Piedt put the gloves on to begin resurrecting his career, and plotting the future of the Cobras, he took a trip to Thailand with his girlfriend Misha at the end of last year.
It was on the idyllic South East Asian beaches that Piedt recharged the batteries for the challenges that lay ahead. It was no small task trying to unite a team that had been torn to shreds over the past six months, but that is exactly what Piedt in conjunction with Prince achieved.
Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, the Cobras finished a credible third place in the Sunfoil Series with three victories in five matches after propping up the table without a win in 2016.
The new Cobras skipper was at the forefront of the renaissance too, claiming 17 wickets during this period to ultimately finish as the team’s leading wicket-taker with 28 scalps.
He also made valuable contributions with the bat, thereby fulfilling vital criteria the national selectors had wanted from him.
The Momentum One-Day Cup campaign has not gone as smoothly, with inconsistencies plaguing the Cobras, leaving Piedt with a moral dilemma.
“The national cause, of course, comes first and you can’t refuse a Proteas call-up but we’ve done such good work at the Cobras in 2017 that I feel like I am letting the boys down by leaving at such a crucial stage of the domestic season,” he said.
Photo: Ryan Wilkisky/BackpagePix
“We have worked hard on creating an environment where players can be successful. I’ve been so focused on the Cobras that I haven’t even thought of playing for the Proteas before this call-up came. I’ve also taken on the challenge of improving my batting. I’ve always enjoyed batting, I just needed a gameplan to score runs more consistently and I’ve worked hard with Ashwell in trying to give me more scoring options instead of just defending.”
Piedt is awaiting his visa before he departs for New Zealand and will therefore not be available to be selected for the second Test starting in Wellington on Thursday. He will, though, come into the reckoning for the third Test in Hamilton on March 25 where he could bowl in tandem with his replacement Keshav Maharaj, who claimed a five-for in the first Test in Dunedin last week.
Although being fully focused on the Cobras, Piedt admits that he’s had a roving eye on the New Zealand series and noticed that the pitches have not been the traditional green-tinged surfaces found Down Under.
“It’s hard to follow the Proteas in New Zealand with the vast time-differences and I’m a guy who likes my sleep,” he chirped. “But I’ve caught the highlights and the wickets really look a lot browner than they usually do. Keshav did very well in Dunedin and Jeetan (Patel) and (Mitchell) Santner have been in the game, so I’m excited about getting over there and hopefully I can contribute to another Proteas series win.”