Butterflies of Cricket

 

In February during a two match T20 series played between New Zealand and South Africa, two young South Africans made their debuts. Richard Levi and Marchant de Lange, two promising future South African cricketing bigwigs both had a pretty impactful debut of sorts. While Levi hammered a blistering hundred in the first match, de Lange held his nerve with the ball in the second match as he defended 7 runs in the final conceding merely 3 runs. Both players became overnight superstars and eventually earned themselves contracts with the lucrative Indian Premier League getting picked by Mumbai and Kolkata respectively, each for $50,000. A fruit for their efforts indeed. But two months down the line of earning their contracts, it’s not appearing all that good for these two guys now.

Richard Levi after his maiden IPL fifty against Chennai Super Kings, in their opening match, got exposed to the slow low conditions of Indian pitches and his problems against spin bowling appeared to the fore. And then he was dropped from the playing XI. So much so, that now in the closing stages of the tournament, his name has completely disappeared from the possibility of making the cut into the playing XI for the team.

Talking about Marchant de Lange, yes, he made his test debut back in December against Sri Lanka and has so far played only two test matches. The real reason for him being picked by Kolkata was the last over that he bowled against New Zealand where he conceded only 3 runs while defending 7. One good performance and he was signed in a jiffy. Cut back to the IPL this season so far, he has played only 3 matches, and got seriously whacked in 2 of those games while bowling at the death.

The question is, why so much of a hara-kiri in picking players in the name “young talent”? Agreed, de Lange bowled one good last over in an International T20 match, but is that sufficient enough a benchmark for team managements of the franchise’s to decide on picking players for their squad? Wouldn’t Vernon Philander have been a better choice as compared to de Lange?

Philander having played 7 test matches has raced away to 51 test wickets, and if I am not mistaken, he is the fastest to reach that mark. Comparing their overall first class records,  Philander has played 82 matches and picked up 331 wickets at an average of 18.96 and and economy of 2.60, while in the 18 matches that de Lange has played, he has picked 67 wickets at an average of 28.77 at an economy of 3.66 and there are no prizes for guessing who is the better candidate.

In case of Richard Levi, okay, he scored one swashbuckling T20 hundred, but in that case, even Kevin O’Brien scored a brilliant hundred against England in a World Cup match last year in India which stands as the fastest hundred in the World Cup history. Sure enough he too was a good candidate to become a part of one of the IPL squads.

Though it is hard to put up a fair comparison between Levi and O’Brien as they both are from different countries which have entirely different cricketing infrastructures and rankings, O’Brien still appears a better candidate since he has represented Ireland over a length of 7 years now and has played in two fifty over World Cups competing with some of the biggest names in International cricket. Surely on those grounds, his credentials are much higher than Levi.

Now, the point is, that I am not doubting the talent that the likes of Levi and de Lange possess. Surely enough they have the potential to represent South Africa for a longer duration of time in the coming years but to hand them lucrative contracts at this point of their careers is something that worries me. They have been paid the money, but one or two bad performances and now the respective team managements have lost faith in these guys.

At this stage of their careers, it is not just the money, but the performances that is going to shape their future. Agreed, money forms an important part of livelihood and every sportsperson should have an access to making adequate livelihood for themselves since a sportsperson’s active years are far less than a normal 9 to 5 office employee. But what’s the point in selecting a player in the name of “young raw talent” and then benching him after one or two bad performances.

The team managements can’t also be entirely blamed here since they are out there to form their best line up and their only focus is winning matches. But the point is, that it’s too dangerous for these players themselves to be given such contracts in the first place. Levi and de Lange have warmed the bench for the most part of the season, which directly means they are missing out on vital match practice.

Their case is now beginning to look more and more reminiscent of the butterfly that was trying to break free from its chrysalis. As it struggled in the beginning, it stopped moving after a while. A man sitting and watching the butterfly became worried and with no evil intention, went up and cut open the chrysalis with a scissor. The Butterfly was set free, but it’s wings were completely shriveled and it’s body withered. The man kept hoping that the butterfly would at some point spread its wings and start flying – it never happened. The butterfly for the rest of its natural life couldn’t fly and was left to crawl on the soil. That struggle through the Chrysalis was a part of the butterfly’s development. That struggle was only going to make its wings stronger which would have meant a life drinking nectar from the flowers, but instead was left to wither in pain for the rest of its life. The man for all his sympathetic intentions, had destroyed the butterfly’s life.

Richard Levi and Marchant de Lange and likewise many other emerging cricketers across all the cricketing countries are right now the butterflies who are emerging through the Chrysalis of domestic cricket. Hard work and struggle is something that they are dealing with just like that butterfly was. The franchise team managements at the moment must not act as that man and cut open their chrysalis of struggle with the scissor of money. These guys have a long way to go in their careers. The more they play domestic cricket at the moment, the better they will become in the future and much more mature in terms of using their skills.

Earning the money is a good thing, but as long as they can keep the money away from taking over their heads and start affecting their performance, they will hold themselves in good stead.

For now, being the lovers of Cricket, we can only pin our hopes on seeing these guys maturing further with their talent and write new chapters in the game’s glorious history.