The bleach blond wicketkeeper is relishing the national call-up, but he knows life will go on irrespective of whatever happens at the World Cup
Firdose Moonda02-Feb-2011Morne van Wyk wore a particularly sheepish grin on his face when he turned up at the MTN40 launch in October last year. When he took off his cap, it was obvious why. His usually boring brown hair was streaked a ridiculous shade of bleached blond.There was no subtlety about his new hair, no gently sun-kissed strokes combing through a darker base, no carefully planned bands of colour – just a bucketload of peroxide and a grin to accessorise. Van Wyk found himself the butt of all jokes that day, from the master of ceremonies to the captains of the other franchises and the media. He didn’t care, he was relishing being the crowd-pleaser.It’s the joy he derives from it that has kept him motivated enough to continue playing professional cricket for 15 seasons. In that time he has only made 11 appearances for the national team, and he hungers for more. The recently completed ODI series against India fuelled that desire. “I just loved it,” he said. “I was standing there in the middle and people were cheering for me and it was a fantastic feeling. I love playing in front of a crowd because we’ve got something in common. I love cricket and so do they. We’re on the same page.”The crowds in India are a bunch van Wyk is most looking forward to interacting with. He got a small taste of their passion when he competed in the 2009 Champions League Twenty20. “It’s the best place in the world to play cricket,” he said.Most of the South African squad will not be going to the World Cup with such a deliciously carefree attitude but none have had the experiences with cricket that van Wyk has had.”My career has kind of been in reverse,” he explained. “I got married when I was 20 and I’ve had three kids and now I’m getting an opportunity to play in the national side again, when for most people it would probably work the other way around.”Van Wyk’s sporting career shot off in a success-bound direction when he was a schoolboy. At Grey College in Bloemfontein, he played rugby, tennis and hockey and was part of the South African Under-19 squad for the 1998 World Cup. All the ingredients to turn him into a man destined for great things on the sports field seemed present, but with Mark Boucher having cemented his place as South Africa’s regular gloveman, van Wyk’s window of opportunity turned into a crack.He got on with life as a regular bloke and met Carnien during a Bible study class in 1999. “We knew on the first date that we would get married,” he said, and four months later they were. Less than two years after that he was a father, and by the time he was 25 he had two children. He had played one ODI, forgettable but for the fact that it was at Lord’s, and scored 17. Then it was back to Bloemfontein, to concentrate on domestic cricket. “I was lucky because I was still able to play cricket and provide a living for my family.”As one of few wicketkeepers on the local scene who consistently boasted a good record with the bat, van Wyk was earmarked to be Boucher’s successor, and as time ticked on, his back-up. Neither role came to be his, and van Wyk expected that. “I never thought I would be Boucher’s successor. I just knew that the right doors would open in time. I have no regrets about my career, maybe a few disappointments.”
“I love playing in front of a crowd because we’ve got something in common. I love cricket and so do they. We’re on the same page”
The biggest of those letdowns must have come in 2007, after van Wyk had a successful stint in Belfast in a tri-series involving Ireland and India. He scored two half-centuries and 44 in three matches in the space of six days but was not included in South Africa’s subsequent squads to play Zimbabwe or New Zealand. “Maybe I wasn’t ready then.”Even though his first-class and List A averages said differently, van Wyk didn’t mind being sidelined. “I don’t believe that there’s only so much sunshine and we all have to fight for it. I think there’s enough sunshine for all of us. I know that our generation is the take-away generation and we want everything quickly, but life is about seasons and waiting for your season.”A decade and a half since he made his debut, van Wyk’s season has come. It started off with a new hairstyle, followed by a lean patch in the MTN40 and then a positively classy century in the semi-final against the Dolphins. Van Wyk also scored an unbeaten 85 in the final, which included hitting the winning runs and showing off his exuberant personality by removing his helmet, revealing his blond mop and taking a bow. National selection was a justified reward.In the one opportunity he got, in the Twenty20 at Moses Mabhida Stadium, he blasted his way to 67 off 39 balls and simply could not be ignored, at least by the national selectors, any longer. He still got snubbed by the lucrative IPL. “If I had played that innings a weekend earlier, maybe I would have received an IPL offer as well,” he said. He was the top-scorer for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL in 2009 in South Africa, and described the experience as the “highlight of my cricket career”. He is still hopeful of securing a contract.From dull brown to bleach blondBefore thinking as far as the IPL, he possibly has a role in helping South Africa make a play for ICC silverware in a few weeks time. Van Wyk is in the squad largely as cover, for the opening batsmen and AB de Villiers, but it’s likely he could bat in the lower order as well. “I am comfortable in any job and keen to do whatever,” he said. “I know I may not play every game. Four guys have to sit out in every game but what people don’t realise is that it’s going to take 15 guys to win a World Cup. All of us have to be service-minded and that means the team comes first. If my job is just to motivate and support, I will do that as best as I can.”While every member of the South African squad is going to be well-versed in playing down the expectation that rests on their shoulders, van Wyk’s is the most believable. He genuinely believes South Africa have a chance of “doing well without making too much noise”, but says every team has the same expectations to perform. Perhaps because he has lived so much of his life outside of being a national cricketer he understands why it really is just a game.Van Wyk will turn 32 the day after South Africa play Bangladesh in their final group match in Mirpur. To have comfortably qualified for the quarter-finals by then will be a birthday present he will treasure, but if by some twist he is on the plane back to South Africa that day, “we’ll come home and our lives will carry on.”
