In tribute to the County Championship

Dupavillon and Swanepoel in for a treat

    The English County Championship is “…the best cricket competition in the world and the one that the best players from every other country want to play in,” according to four-time international coach, Mickey Arthur, now Derbyshire’s Director of Cricket.

    The emphasis might have been on ‘play in’ rather then ‘be paid in.’ There’s more money to made in the IPL but county cricket provides an altogether more wholesome and fulfilling experience and has done since 1890.

    Surrey won the first three titles and the last two – they are strong favourites to complete another hat-trick. Their head coach, Gareth Batty, recently spoke about tournaments which are “good for players as human beings, not just professional cricketers.”

    He had been asked about many of his own squad playing Franchise cricket around the world during the English winter – there were Surrey players in the Big Bash, Bangladesh, UAE and the SA20. But now his band is back together and the start of the Championship is their focus for the next seven weeks. “It’s still the one they want to win most, ask any of them…”

    This English summer might be an especially memorable one for two immensely talented South Africans who will embark on five-month contracts from the beginning of May. Fast bowler Daryn Dupavillon will join Derbyshire while all rounder Beyers Swanepoel takes the place of Australian Xavier Bartlett at Kent after Cricket Australia awarded their man his first central contract and then immediately engaged in some more ‘workload management’ by withdrawing permission to head to Canterbury.

“I'm absolutely thrilled to join a historic county side such as Kent and to play in all formats of the English county game. I hope to learn a lot whilst I'm here amongst a very talented squad. I spoke to former Kent overseas players before I signed and they couldn't recommend Kent highly enough as a place to come and improve my game in English conditions,” said 26-year-old Swanepoel.

    The first South African to play for Kent in the post-isolation era was Fanie de Villiers who has dear memories of the club – off the field. It was 1990, the year the England board decided to ‘experiment’ with a reduced seam on the Dukes ball. He wasn’t the only bowler to suffer as even modest batsmen flourished.

    “I couldn’t buy a wicket, and I would have happily paid for a few,” de Villiers recalls with a grimace. “They used a thinner thread to stitch the balls so there was almost no seam at all. There was absolutely no seam movement and I couldn’t get it to swing, so I learned to bowl off-cutters, but there’s a limit to doing that.” His reward, of course, came four years later when he famously bowled Australia out with off-cutters to win the New Year Test at SCG defending just 117.

    Kent won the last of their six Championship titles in 1978 and the extent of their ambitions this year might be staying in Division One. Derbyshire, on the other hand, will hope 29-year-old Dupavillon will help them win promotion from division Two.

    “The opportunity to play in England is one I want to make the most of," Dupavillon said. “I'm really excited to be joining Derbyshire, I'm not sure there's a cricketer around who would not want to work with a coach like Mickey Arthur.”

    “Daryn is an experienced player who will be a real asset to the side with his pace and skill,” Arthur said.

    Wiaan Mulder, already a firm favourite at Grace Road, returns to Leicestershire for another season and Migael Pretorius, after an impressive showing for Durham last year, will be joining Somerset to give their early season push for Championship points a boost.

    But Dupavillon and Swanepoel are the most intriguing signings. The former has played a couple of ODIs for the Proteas but it’s his record of 230 wickets in 77 matches at an average of 25.7 which Arthur hopes will help lift his team into Diviion One. Swanepoel’s record is even more impressive with 127 wickets in 33 matches at just 19.28 and a batting average of 27 with a highest score of 188*.

    For over three decades overseas professionals routinely dedicated years of unbroken service to their counties, in some cases (Glenn Turner at Worcestershire) preferring to play for club ahead of country. But in recent years, with more international cricket and more format-specific ‘specialists’, counties have turned to shorter, in-and-out contracts. The opportunity to play a full season, especially with no previous county experience, is rare.

    It’s not just on the field where memories will be made. Interacting with the stalwart county members, driving the country’s logjammed motorways between games and trying to eat well in their service stations, shopping and cooking for yourself and learning to bowl wearing two sweaters…

    The exchange rate will ensure that they are paid extremely well in Rand terms, but it really isn’t primarily about the money. No cricketer I’ve ever met has been a poorer person or a poorer player after a season with a county. And none have had any regrets.