Opportunity knocks for Duminy

Sunday Times

TELFORD VICE, Cape Town

QUITE what the cricketminded folk of Exmouth thought of their freshly signed South African pro, one Jean-Paul Duminy, as the sun set on their team’s match against Budleigh Salterton in the Devon League on May 3, 2003 can only be wondered at.

Clearly, this Duminy bloke was not what it said on his tin. Batting at No. 3 like the batsman he claimed he was, he was dismissed without scoring - the only duck in an innings declared closed on 234/5. Then he took 4/21 to bowl Exmouth to victory by 109 runs.

A few games later, against Plymouth, Duminy did not bowl. But he did score 121 not out in an eight-wicket win. Another handful of matches further into the season, Duminy made 107 not out in another win, this one by two runs over Braunton. In all, he averaged 83 in his 10 innings and took 18 wickets at 18.88, and Exmouth topped the standings.

Eleven years on, cricketminded folk are again unsure about Duminy. After his 211 games in SA shirts of all three descriptions, they know what he is about as a player. What they do not know is what kind of captain he will make. They will find out when Duminy leads SA in three T20s against Australia, starting on Wednesday.

For most of his 10 years as an international player, Duminy has not marked himself out as a potential leader. He has been unafraid to put his head above the parapet, but in the cause of surviving and prospering at the crease - not to inspire men to go once more unto the breach.

That has changed. Duminy’s confidence has grown enough for him to believe his ideas are worth sharing, and they are. A thinking cricketer should be prized anywhere, but especially in a culture as tightly bound to doing as SA’s.

Since his elevation, albeit it temporary in the absence of the rested Faf du Plessis, Duminy has not even tried to keep the word “opportunity” out of almost every sentence he has spoken. In not quite two minutes of talking to reporters in Sydney on Friday, “opportunity” featured seven times.

“There are a few butterflies,” he admitted. “But it’s just a great opportunity to lead from the front. I’m honoured, and hopefully I can do my country proud.”

He has done that already, and then some. This is his chance to prove that he is more than a fine player, that he is a leader. His opportunity is knocking.