Do SA need Luck to win the World Cup?

Lucky joined the squad late

On October 5, 2016, Australia scored 371-6 in a One-Day International at Kingsmead with centuries from David Warner and Steve Smith. Dale Steyn conceded an eye-watering 96 from his 10 overs but 20-year-old Andile Phehlukwayo, in just his fourth match, returned a very respectable 1-58 from eight overs.

    The home side were 217-5 with only David Miller remaining of the specialist batsmen and the game looked lost. Phehlukwayo came to the crease at 265-6 with Miller fully warmed up but an asking rate of almost 12 an over. It was only his second innings.

    He nudged a few early on but then swung hard and freely, earning a bit of luck with top edges flying just wide and then over the top of third man and fine leg. Miller went into over-drive with an unbeaten 118 from 79 balls but he could never have got the team over the line without his precocious Natal team-mate. They won with four balls to spare.

    Phehlukwayo had a remarkable, back of the hand slower ball that I’d never seen before, other than when delivered by accident. It was slower than any other seamer was bowling at the time. He was also capable of genuine pace. On commentary that day I recall saying: “Is there any bowler in the world at the moment who is bowling at speeds between 104 kph and 140 in the same over?”

    There were further moments of dazzling genius in the next couple of years. At the Wanderers the Proteas were making heavy weather of a DRS run-chase against India. Phehlukwayo faced five balls, hit three of them for six and one for four. Game over. He’d earlier bowled six tidy overs at a cost of 38. 

    But he wasn’t all biff-bang. A year later, back at Kingsmead, South Africa were 80-5 chasing a modest 207 against Pakistan. Phehlukwayo calmly composed an unbeaten 69 from 80 balls in a stand of 127 with Rassie van der Dussen to win the game. He’d earlier taken 4-22 bowling with great skill. 

 Naturally there had been some fallow periods between the successes but the barren times began increasing. Averages are especially misleading for a player whose bowling role is fluid and who bats at seven or eight, but Phehlukwayo’s career batting average had slipped from 32 after 50 matches to 23 after 76. His bowling seemed to become more peripheral. 

    He lost his place in the starting XI, was left out of national squads and then lost his national contract. A year ago, he failed to attract a bidder at the inaugural SA20 Player Auction. “That left me in a dark place,” Phehlukwayo admits.

    “You can’t buy a player because of what he did two or three years ago,” one of the Franchise coaches told me. “We have a team of data analysts and his output graph is definitely not going up.” The Auction snub stunned Phehlukwayo, and stung him. 

  The ‘word’ in cricket circles was that he had taken his early success for granted and had stopped putting in the extra work which put him so far ahead of his contemporaries and rivals. In professional sport, the ‘word’ can be cruel and unreliable, driven by envy and malice. But, visually, it did appear that Phehlukwayo  had been spending a little more time at the buffet in team hotels than he used to.   

     A couple of months ago he looked a long way from making the World Cup squad, but he’d been working hard on his game and fitness, and he knew it. And the work had been noted. He was included in the squad for the Australia series but, from the outside, it seemed clear he was there as ‘cover’. Then came the injuries to Sisanda Magala and Anrich Nortje. And Phehlukwayo’s game-changing contribution in the deciding ODI at the Wanderers. An innings of 39* from 19 balls transforming a likely total of 280 into a more daunting one of 315. A couple of days later he was in the squad for India. 

    As the players were gathering in Johannesburg, Phehlukwayo was still in Durban getting ready to play a One-Day Cup game for the Dolphins, just a day before the team flew out of OR Tambo. “That was my personal decision, I haven’t had much game time recently and cricket is an up-and-down sport with its ebbs and flows,” he said from the Departure Terminal on Saturday night. It was not the action of a man shirking hard work. Quite the opposite. Most would have chosen to make certain of their seat on the plane and not risk injury. 

    I asked him whether he become “distracted” by his early success, whether it was true that he had, you know…

    “I understand the question,” he interrupts. He’s heard it before. “Other people might think that but, personally, I think it was more my lack of game time (that contributed to his regression rather than progression.) It’s a chicken and egg situation. His performances diminished and his game time did likewise, leading to even less output.  

    Lance Klusener was head coach at the Dolphins at the peak of Phehlukwayo’s young career. He was a role model and a mentor. “Zulu’s departure definitely had an effect on me,” Phehlukwayo admits. “He was a big part of my growth and he gave me the responsibility as a player that I always wanted.” Like Klusener, he really wanted to be the man bowling or facing the final overs with the result on the line. He says that hasn’t changed. “Definitely not.”

    He may have snuck into the squad at the last minute but that doesn’t mean he’s lucky to be there. Although South Africa could do with a bit of luck at World Cups. Fortunately, they have some now. His name is Andile Lucky Phehlukwayo. Mark II. 

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