In the larger scheme of things, tonight’s final T20 international between the Proteas and the victorious West Indies may be insignificant, but for Justin Ontong it represents the proudest moment of his career.
Ontong, who wasn’t even in the original T20 squad, was included just before the Newlands opener because it was felt that JP Duminy wasn’t fit enough to play. Yesterday morning, in a remarkable development, “Onters” was informed that he would captain his country for the first time.
“I’m just so privileged to be the captain of my country. It’s a dream come true. It’s the proudest cricketing moment of my career,” Ontong said yesterday after his team’s net practice at Kingsmead.
Ontong was officially informed of his promotion by Proteas coach Russell Domingo after Faf du Plessis was withdrawn to give him some added rest before the start of the one-day international series that starts in Durban on Friday.
Proteas team manager, Dr Mohammed Moosajee saidd: “Faf has been rested as a precautionary measure ahead of a busy one-day international period in the next three months. He has a long-standing hip niggle and any amount of rest will be beneficial to him in the long run.”
While Du Plessis’ absence is a blow for South Africa it has enabled Ontong to realise a cherished ambition. “It was a very emotional moment for me,” he said.
Ontong, who turned 35 this month, has had an impressive provincial/franchise career, but his international career has never quite taken off since he became a pawn in an traumatic early transformation battle in January 2001 when then-United Cricket Board president Percy Sonn demanded that the 22-year-old all-rounder be included in the South African team for the third Test against Australia in Sydney.
That incident, almost exactly 13 years ago, did no favours for the youngster who was sledged by the Aussies as “Percy’s boy” during that Test. In the past 14 years, Ontong has played two Tests, 28 one-day internationals and 13 T20Is for his country, but he will surely treasure the latest development as the climax of a fine career.
Asked if he had ever felt like giving up on his international ambitions, Ontong admitted that he’d had the occasional wobble but said: “Ultimately, I never gave up. I kept going and tried to make sure that my franchise, the Cape Cobras, continued being successful. I felt that if the Cobras kept on winning (as they have more often than not) then you never know. Now look at me. I’m sitting here today and it’s a dream come true.”
Turning to today’s match, Ontong described it as a “nice little challenge for me, and one that I’m looking forward to”.
Inevitably the G-word was thrown at him, and Ontong acknowledged that domineering left-hander Chris Gayle was very hard to contain on his day. “I think he’s due for a failure and I hope it happens tomorrow.
“We’re playing at a coastal venue and there’s often something for the bowlers. Sometimes it does a little bit in the evening. Hopefully we’ll get him to nick off early.”
It would be hard to imagine a more perfect pitch for batting than the strip at the Wanderers on Sunday. The thin air, short boundaries and even bounce represented a death sentence for both sets of bowlers who were duly clobbered for 467 runs.
Ontong may have been tempted to write off the experience as bad luck, but he chose not to. “There was nothing wrong with our batting – Faf played a really exceptional innings – but the bowlers need to execute their skills better.”
Poor Kyle Abbott, so often the hero with his aggressive early spells and excellent “death” bowling for the Dolphins, had the kind of outing that he will want to forget. The 68 runs he conceded in his four overs is the kind of world record he could do without.
But it’s not something that should haunt him. That Wanderers offered a massive challenge to the bowlers and he will understand that his experience can happen to anyone in this format.
He has not suddenly been transformed from a good into a bad bowler and hopefully he will prove that tonight. - The Sta