Even as there is no Cummins rushing in hard at you from the bowling end but there’s Nathan Ellis, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazelwood, things can get hard. Real hard. The challenge to answer with the bat smoothly can then get real especially when you’re contesting on a seeming wicket where there’s assistance for the bowlers. And to make things far worse, you see your side with 2 wickets down with the score well under 50.
But when you are a certain Matthew Breetzke, you don’t shy away from the challenge; you take it head on. Even if that means the legendary and the most preeminent force with the bat in the South African camp in the form of Quinton de Kock back in the dugout.
That was precisely what Breetzke, perhaps the most recognisable talent from Gqeberha faced hours ago during the opening one day contest between his Proteas and the mighty Aussies. But while the excellence and prominence may have certainly accompanied Australia even before the start of the game given their success in Cricket that spans decades, the promise for South Africa, as one found out, was thanks to one man applying himself.
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And that too, amid overwhelming pressure.
Matthew Breetzke arrived at the wicket when the scoreboard read 29-for the loss of- 2 wickets. It wouldn’t have helped his cause to see a good talent in the form of De Zorzi out for a duck.
Later in the innings, when even the iconic David Miller was seen struggling, making a strange, if also rare, 9 for 25, the fan would have moved further to a state of drowsiness for which he or she could not even be blamed.
But all was not lost. In fact, hardly. For holding onto an end steadily and safe as a house made of the finest concrete cement was Breetzke. Lest it is forgotten, he was playing just his 15th one day international.
A year and a half ago, he arrived in one day cricket wearing the green Protea jersey for the first time ever but in a contest that offered little of home comfort.
In a tri series game held at Lahore in Pakistan, he smashed 150 against the BlackCaps.
In the land where the colour green it but ubiquitous, he ensured the BlackCaps felt a taste of typical Protea unflappability and spirit as he hit the fastest one day century by a South African batter back then, striking 5 sixes and 11 fours.
While New Zealand overcame the dominant ask, Breetzke ensured he waged a storm and wouldn’t wane out after blowing gently.
Last evening, his hundred featured the typical confidence giving ethos that his already packed-with-talent South African side feature. But the circumstances were different. So too was the game situation.
His century, this time in a winning cause, was an excellent demonstration of combining focus and attack whilst ensuring his South Africa were never really out of context in terms of run scoring.
He first hung around to protect a vulnerable looking inning with Ryan Rickelton, whose 27 runs, one ought to note, were vital at a time where even the captain had departed.
He would, thereafter, begin to flex his muscles and free himself a touch in terms of hitting the ball quite well. But that was largely thanks to the ever enterprising Marco Jansen chipping in when the chips were down.
For someone who came in at number 4 but continued to bat well into the 48th over, Breetzke’s knock assured South Africa’s safety and later on, acceleration, as he hit the throttle, going hard against the likes of Nathan Ellis and Jack Edwards.
In reaching his second hundred, Breetzke prevailed at an important time taking the team score that didn’t even look as though it would reach 250 at one stage to 297.
And what wasn’t hard to note was that there was more reliance on grounded strokes as opposed to big hitting. He hit during a roughly 120 min stay at the wicket 14 boundaries. And despite stitching a late order stand with someone who’s essentially a bowling all rounder, Breetzke added impetus to his team’s score by still amassing a strike rate easily north of 100.
To a team that shouldn’t rely on Quinton de Kock for the big scoring and one to which the likes of Bavuma, Bosch, Rickelton form a very significant batting component, Matthew Breetzke’s presence only further boosts the confidence of one of world cricket’s most dazzling teams.
May it continue to energise the sport that can often go quest hunting for more meaning. May it rekindle the romance it once truly enjoyed with One day cricket back in the day. But one notes for as long as the likes of Breetzke will be at it, nearing 1,000 odi runs from just 14 innings (2 tons and 6 fifties already), there’s hope that ODI Cricket and the fondness for it won’t wither away.
