Khaya Zondo: Proteas hopefuls’ form not down to Gibson’s call

The Dolphins captain is one of the fringe players to knock on the national door but it's not because SA want to spead the net wide for 2019.

Khaya Zondo. (Photo by Anesh Debiky/Gallo Images)

Khaya Zondo is very much part of an interesting trend in the Ram Slam T20 challenge.

He’s one of quite a few domestic batsmen on the fringes of Proteas selection – Theunis de Bruyn, Reeza Hendricks and Aiden Markram – scoring runs at the moment and putting pressure on the national selectors.

There might be an obvious reason for that: new national coach Ottis Gibson has previously made it clear he wants a bigger pool of players to choose from with the 2019 World Cup in mind.

But the 27-year-old Dolphins star, armed with the wisdom of being captain for over a year now, has a measured outlook.

“I suppose it’s easy to assume that domestic batsmen now have an added incentive. I don’t think it’s the truth though,” said Zondo.

“We’ve been scoring runs for a few seasons now. All of us have been playing for South Africa ‘A’ for some time now. We clearly haven’t been needing motivation.”

Instead, Gibson’s words are merely a boost.

“All I think his comments have done is made it clear to us that the Proteas batting order isn’t a closed shop,” said Zondo.

“We now have the assurance that good form might almost certainly be rewarded.”

Known as more of a skillful stroke-maker, Zondo provided one of the tournament highlights with an explosive 67 off just 34 balls against the Cape Cobras.

It was a timely reminder of him not having to be pigeonholed.

“My nature is a batsman is actually quite aggressive. I know it doesn’t always come out but it really has always been there,” said Zondo.

“The platform was just set at SuperSport Park (against the Cobras). Sarel Erwee was going well and it was a beautiful pitch to bat on. I just felt I could go out an express myself.

“But it’s important to be adaptable. As a captain, I sometimes need to take responsibility when things are stickier. Then the strike rate isn’t as high. Yet I’m certainly a guy who backs myself to hit out.”