Spinner Matthews hones his skill in India
Although he is from an entirely different cricketing generation, Matthews singles out Aussie leg-spinner Shane Warne as his cricketing idol.
Dyllan Matthews is hoping a recent trip to India will go a long way towards spinning his way to higher cricket honours this coming season.
The 22-year-old Cape Town-raised leg-spinner, who moved to Easterns from North West in June 2018, has rejoined his teammates at Willowmoore Park after attending a one-week spin bowling camp at the renowned Global Cricket School in Bangaluru (formerly Bangalore), India.
He accompanied a group of local franchise players earmarked by Cricket South Africa (CSA) as ‘potential stars of the future’ and featured on a list of spin bowlers which included, among others, the Cobras’ duo Dane Piedt and George Linde as well as Bjorn Fortuin of the Lions.
“This was something I had always wanted to do. I wanted to get a different perspective on spin bowling,” said Matthews. “Spin bowling has been the number one suite in India over the years, so it was good to go there and learn from those guys.”
His passage to the humid climes of India was confirmed by a phone call from SA A-coach Russell Domingo (now Bangladesh head coach) shortly after a pre-season indoor net session in July.
“Most of the SA coaches have a certain philosophy of how they want the game to be played and the way they coach,” he pointed out.
He likened his experience in India to going to a doctor for a second opinion: “It’s sort of like knowing you have the flu, but get told you need something different to fix it.”
“It is good to get another perspective on how things should be done and how to go about my bowling while at the same time picking up on little technical things I may not see. It’s the same theory but brings the message across differently.”
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Matthews, the 2017/18 CSA One-Day Player of the Year, was an integral part of the Easterns One-Day Cup-winning side last season and saw them over the line by scoring the winning runs against Northerns in the final.
He firmly believes he needs to keep drifting out of his comfort zone to consistently improve and is often hard on himself.
“Last season I felt like I may not have lived up to expectation, so this term is to get back to my best and keep building on my first proper season where I played both three-day and one-day cricket.”
“Although I wasn’t around when he played, watching footage from back then it struck me the way he set up a batsman and forced him into a mistake.
“Nobody teaches you to think, you have to do it yourself. Mentally, Warne was the best there was and he backed his skill up with his confident, at times arrogant, attitude,” concluded Matthews.
