JOHANNESBURG - Following another strong domestic season with the Knights, batsman Keegan Petersen’s move to the Dolphins was carefully thought out as he hopes to take his career to the next level with a consistent spot in the national set-up the ultimate goal.
Petersen earned a call-up to the SA squad during their recent Test series against England, but didn’t earn a Test cap. He felt that he could have dealt with that call-up better when he returned to franchise cricket.
“I think I might have put too much pressure on myself after I got the call up to the national squad,” Petersen said candidly.
“I thought that I needed to justify the call-up and that’s why the second half of the season didn’t go as well for me.
“With the season over it was time for me to move on and the Dolphins was a good fit for me as I have admired the kind of cricket that they played last season.”
The history associated with the iconic Kingsmead Stadium which the Dolphins call home, was also a factor in Petersen’s move.
“I watched a lot of Dolphins cricket last season and I think they are playing the cricket that the rest of the franchises are trying to,” he mentioned. “Their approach with the bat and their emphasis on spin with the ball is the way cricket is going.
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/proudlypaarl?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#proudlypaarl @bolandcric @OfficialCSA @DPCricket pic.twitter.com/J8xCX8OlaD
— STAY AT HOME (@thevillageguy1)
“To also have a Test venue as my home ground was important and the decision was purely a cricketing one.”
The 26-year-old also relished the prospect of improving his play against spin while at the Dolphins. He will have Keshav Maharaj, Prenelan Subrayen and Senuran Muthusamy to contend with at training which could only benefit Petersen.
“I think that I am pretty good at playing spin bowling but it is always an area that you can improve so it’s going to be a good test for me. Another area that I want to improve on is consistency. I want to maintain good form for a long period because I know that another call-up to the Proteas squad isn’t going to come easily.”
Although Petersen’s national call-up came in the Test squad he doesn’t want to pigeonhole himself.
“I’m not going to forget about one-day cricket at all and I think it’s important to be consistent in both formats of the game.
“We saw how well the Dolphins batted in the Momentum One-Day Cup and it’s encouraging to see how positively they went about their batting,” he added.