Klaasen's Class
Klaasen has that knack for delivering when the chips are down.
Heinrich Klaasen owned a Hansie Cronje County bat when he was a youngster. He loved that bat. If he could, he would have taken it everywhere. "I still have that bat. Well, my father still has it. I tried everything to break it to get a new bat, but it didn't work," says Klaasen.
Klaasen also had a teacher who told him that cricket would not take him far in life. The words were not said as some sort of reverse psychology trick like what Cyril Mitchley did to Tabraiz Shamsi. Shamsi was working on his bowling alone in the nets in preparation for the Under-15 trials when Mitchley calmly told him, “Look, don't waste your time practising, you're not going to get selected.”
Mitchley knew the kind of person Shamsi was, and this was his way to get Shamsi focused.
Klaasen's teacher meant every word. He did not believe that Klaasen could carve a career out of cricket and it annoyed him that Klaasen spent so much time hitting balls with his Hansie Cronje bat. He felt that Klaasen was better served by focusing on his books instead.
Klaasen was not supposed to find some sort of inspiration from the words. But he did, and like Shamsi, he used the words as fuel. "I took it as a challenge,” says Klaasen.
Cricket did not just take him through school and varsity, it also gave him a career. He also fulfilled his childhood dream of playing for the Proteas.
When he made his Pink Day ODI debut, Klaasen took down India's spinners in a shortened match. It was his second ODI for the Proteas. Somewhere in Pretoria, a bemused teacher watched with a wry smile as the former student he had tried to dissuade from cricket singlehandedly keep the Proteas' winning record in Pink Day matches intact.
Before his Proteas call-up, Klaasen made a name for himself by authoring such freakish moments. In a 2015 Africa T20 Cup match, Northerns were in a tight spot. Klaasen had run out his captain, Albie Morkel, and Northerns needed to go at 11 runs an over in the last seven overs. Klaasen grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck and smashed an unbeaten 73 off 39 balls to lead Northerns into the playoffs.
This newsletter is completely reader-supported. If you’re willing and able, please consider supporting it in one of two ways, leaving a tip or becoming a Patreon. Thank you so much for your time and investment!
It looked like the Proteas had finally found a partner for David Miller in the middle order. This was important given the near-decade-long struggle to find the number seven of their dreams. The Miller-Klaasen thing at five and six was supposed to be robust enough to hide the hole at number seven. Klaasen was everything they wanted, aggressive and could clear the ropes with ease.
At the Titans, he was always the first person to make the risky shot in order to move the game forward or try to put it beyond the opposition. He was a proper finisher. “He has always been selfless like that,” says Henry Davids.
Six months after he took down India, Klaasen was part of the Proteas team that toured Sri Lanka. The selectors and coaches spoke of positive intent and aggressive cricket. He played with positive intent in two matches, got caught on the boundary twice and was dropped. A cycle was established, whenever Klaasen was in the team, he played one or two matches, never the full quota in a series.
While the Proteas selectors were in love with his aggressive cricket, they found him too inconsistent and too unpredictable to be given a consistent run. They wanted him to take risks and also be consistent. They wanted him to be both a match-winner and a conservative player at the same time. He was placed in an impossible position.
By nature, Heinrich Klaasen is an overthinker. “I seem to overthink cricket,” he says. “So, I always try to keep my mind in a good space so I can really focus on just the game and not try to overthink it. Otherwise, I sit in my bed or sleep at night, and then dream about cricket and think about all the things that you're supposed to do that you're not doing… All that stuff.”
According to Pierre de Bruyn, Klaasen’s close friend and former coach at Tuks, Klaasen is at his best when he feels secure. “He has the skillset, but he needs to feel secure to perform at his best. At the moment, he is very secure when it comes to his white ball game, and his performances show that. When you manage Heinrich Klaasen the person well, you get Heinrich Klaasen the superstar.”
The lack of clarity in what his role was and the inconsistency in selection messed up his head. It made it difficult for him to feel the security a player requires to play match-winning innings. Instead of just focusing on what he knows best, scoring a ton of runs at a brisk pace, he went into survival mode and shifted down to third gear. It got him dropped.
Being dropped in South African cricket does not mean one is relegated to the bench and becomes second or third in line, it means you have been chucked into the stands. If you had a central contract, you lose it. You have to work your way back from scratch. That is what Heinrich Klaasen did. He put in domestic performances that made sure that his name was always on the selectors’ lips.
On 21 March 2023, Heinrich Klaasen played his second classy knock in two series. The first one was in February 2023. It was in vain. It was not enough to salvage a win for the Proteas. But the intentions were clear, Klaasen was going to play the aggressive brand of cricket he felt comfortable playing. The second one was reminiscent of his 2018 Pink Day knock. From the moment he took guard in the 11th over, he looked secure.
South Africa was on 73/3 and required 188 runs to win the match. In true Heinrich Klaasen fashion, he scythed the West Indies bowlers on his way to an unbeaten 119 off 61 balls. His innings denied the West Indies their first ODI series win in South Africa. The blitz also etched Klaasen into the record books. It took him 54 balls to reach 100 runs, only AB de Villiers, twice, and Mark Boucher have scored faster ODI centuries for South Africa.
As I watched Heinrich Klaasen hit consecutive boundaries, a six followed by two fours, to seal victory for the Proteas, I thought of his teacher. Why would anyone want to shatter the dreams of a minor? And I was grateful to young Heinrich Klaasen for sticking with the cricket dream.
If you found this interesting, please share it:
And you can support Stumped! by leaving a tip:
Thanks for reading. Until next time… - CS
