Anrich Nortje’s Proteas call-up has been a marathon, not a sprint

Anrich Nortje may have burst into the wider public’s consciousness during the Mzansi Super League, but for the 25-year-old fast bowler his debut call-up to the Proteas squad feels like he is coming to the last 10 kilometres of a marathon.

Nortje is in line to make his international debut on Sunday when South Africa take on Sri Lanka in the first ODI at the Wanderers and it comes after ankle surgery ruled him out of action for 10 weeks at the height of the summer.

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While that was a frustrating period for the Uitenhage product, he now realises that it all turned out for the best.

While his MSL performances for the Cape Town Blitz certainly caught the eye, Nortje’s talent has been on display for a while.

After playing for SA Schools in 2012, he spearheaded the NMMU attack at national club champs and made his first-class debut for Eastern Province aged 19.

In 26 games for them he took 84 wickets, earning him a franchise debut for the Warriors in 2015/16.

Consistent wicket-taking at that level (76 wickets in 20 games at 26.03) put him on the national selectors’ radar and he went on last winter’s SA A tour, and this summer he has looked ready to take the next step.

“Things have happened quite quickly recently, but I feel like I’ve had a good build-up, I’ve played at all the levels from Varsity to domestic and then franchise, and I’ve learnt a lot at each step. And now things happen quickly. It was a definitely a surprise to be called up, but I had read that the Proteas wanted to have a look at me, but you guys [the media] seemed to know more than me.

“I had a bit of bone floating around in my ankle and in the MSL it just got worse. I was very disappointed to have to pull out so early, but it was for the better. If I had tried to push through the remaining three weeks I probably wouldn’t be playing now. But it was frustrating because there was hype and momentum on my side,” Nortje said at the Wanderers on Friday.

The excitement of making his Proteas debut not only now lies ahead of Nortje, but also the chance of booking his place on the trip to the World Cup. But the decidedly brisk right-armer just wants to focus on fulfilling whatever the role giving to him by the Proteas leadership will be, whether going on to all-out attack to get wickets or trying to contain.

“I’m taking it one game at a time, I don’t know what’s going to happen with the World Cup and I still have the IPL coming up before that. So I’m just going to try and do my best in every game, I feel I bring something different to the other bowlers and I’m working on what brought me here, trying to improve my strengths.

“It depends on the situation, at franchise level they like to see me come in and take wickets, but when I need to keep the game quiet than I can do that as well. Sri Lanka are a good unit, they can certainly hit a ball a long way and they’re not afraid to come out and play aggressively. We’ll need to find a way to counter that,” Nortje said.

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