Cheer up, Rossouw: it could be worse

Times Media

TELFORD VICE, Cape Town

RILEE Rossouw should cheer up. Yes, he is the only South African and only the second player ever to have suffered golden ducks in his first two innings in one-day internationals. But it could get worse. Sort of.

On debut against Zimbabwe in Harare two weeks ago, Rossouw opened the batting, nudged the fourth ball of the match to mid-off, set off on a single that never was, and was run out by Malcolm Waller’s direct hit.

Eight days later, Rossouw sat and watched Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock take the shotgun approach to Zimbabwe’s bowling in their opening stand of 142. But they were dismissed in the space of 15 deliveries, the latter by Prosper Utseya.

Then Utseya did, with the first ball Rossouw faced, what he had not done in a career of 10 years and 157 previous ODIs in which he had bowled 8169 deliveries: he turned one. Better yet, he turned it sharply and found steep bounce.

What else could the left-hander do but edge to slip, where John Nyumbu held a smart catch. The irony could not have been lost on Rossouw as he trudged back to the dressingroom from whence he had come only a minute or two previously - Nyumbu, he of the five-wicket haul on his test debut against SA last month. Easy game, cricket. For some.

Utseya reverted to type with his next delivery, which refused to spin. Instead, it thudded into David Miller’s pads to complete only the second hat-trick in Zimbabwe’s ODI history.

That was about as small as mercies get. At least the focus was off Rossouw and on Utseya, flat on his back flinging his arms and legs in the air like he just didn’t care even as his teammates flung themselves on him.

Nathan McCullum knows how Rossouw feels. The New Zealander is the only other player to have been dismissed first ball in his first two ODIs. Considering 2171 players have earned one-day caps, that puts Rossouw and McCullum in the top - or is it the bottom? - 0.092123445417 percentile. Whichever way you spin it, that is vrot luck.

Another New Zealander, Gareth Hopkins, was not required at the crease in his first four ODIs. When he was finally given a go, he was run out without facing a ball. Three years passed before he played another one-dayer - and was sent packing first ball when Andre Nel sent his leg stump cartwheeling across Kingsmead.

Namibia’s Gerrie Snyman, meanwhile, did not bat on debut, but he was out first ball in his next two games.

At the other end of the scale, Kepler Wessels has no clue how Rossouw or McCullum or any of the above unfortunates feel. In 109 ODI innings for Australia and SA, not once was he dismissed without scoring.

So, why should Rossouw cheer up? In 1989, a dumpy kid topped by a pot-scourer of black hair was out for nought in his first two ODIs. Another 450 innings later, Sachin Tendulkar owned 18426 runs.

And, yes, it really could get worse. Shadab Kabir of Pakistan, Canada’s Nick de Groot, Zimbabwean Tinashe Panyangara and Irishman Peter Gillespie are the only players to record ducks in their first three ODI innings.

No pressure, Rilee.