Ottas Was On Fire
Ottniel Baartman starred for Sunrisers Eastern Cape
Street cricket was an expensive hobby for Ottniel Baartman and his friends. The aunties who lived along 10 Avenue (or 10 de Laan, in Afrikaans) made it so. They confiscated every ball that either flew or rolled into their yard. As far as the aunties were concerned, tennis balls were a menace - they cannoned into windows, breaking them, or damaged flowers in the yards.
“The aunties gave us a hard time every day. Normally, two to three balls flew into their yards each day. They just took them, shouted at us for hitting our balls into their yards and walked away. Sometimes we tried to ask them nicely to give it back to us but they refused each time,” says Baartman.
The aunties were only willing to hand back the ball under one condition; if Baartman and his friends were willing to buy the ball back for five rand. Five rand was less than the cost of a new ball. The boys were not swimming in money. Their bats were improvised from planks and other random pieces of wood they found lying around in Brixton.
Like Baartman’s mother, most of the boys’ parents made a living by doing domestic chores in Brixton and neighbouring suburbs. Their services weren’t always in demand and so there were tough days. “There were days we lived on tea and bread. On some days, the sandwich and milkshake we were given at school was the only meal I would have. I would go to sleep hungry, but knowing that I would wake up and go to school in the morning and have a piece of bread, have a meal, kept me going,” says Baartman.
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On days when she had a little bit of money, Baartman’s mother would give him a little bit, a five rand here, a 10 rand there. Most of that money went towards buying new balls. When they needed a new ball, which was most of the time, the boys contributed one rand each to the pot.
By the time he turned 10, Baartman had already dropped out of the school cricket team because his mother could not buy him the gear required for him to be part of the team. This was his only opportunity to play the sport he loved and he was willing to do all he could to make sure he played. “Every day I would rush home from school and the first thing I did after taking off my uniform was go to my friend’s house to get him so we could play cricket,” says Baartman.
The other boys did their part. Like Baartman, they saved whatever money their parents gave them. The batters also tried to hit the ball on the ground as much as possible. In addition to saving money for balls, Baartman also played his part by bowling unplayable yorkers.
“I always loved it whenever the wickets fly. My cousin Douglas is six years older than me, he was a fast bowler in his youth and I looked up to him. Every Saturday or Sunday I go to watch him play club cricket with the hope of seeing him sending wickets flying. I was fascinated by it and I wanted to do that all the time when I played against my friends,” says Baartman.
When Sunrisers Eastern Cape hosted the Pretoria Capitals at St. George’s Park on the 22nd of January, Baartman sent wickets flying twice. First when he sent Colin Ingram’s off-stump cartwheeling with his first delivery of the game and then when he uprooted Eathan Bosch’s off-stump in the 14th over to close the Capitals’ innings.
Those wickets helped him rise to joint-third on the most wicket-takers list for the 2024 edition of the SA20. The pacer has bagged eight wickets in four games, along with Reece Topley who has eight from five innings. Baartman and Topley are behind Lungi Ngidi (10) and Lizaad Williams (9).
So far in the tournament, only three bowlers have bagged four-wicket hauls - Ngidi, Williams and Baartman and of the three, Baartman has the best match figures. Against the Capitals, he took 4/12, compared to Williams’ 4/29 and Ngidi’s 4/39.
Over the years, Baartman has developed more than just a menacing toe-crunching yorker. It’s still his go-to weapon, but against the Capitals, he didn’t use it. He didn’t need to, his back-of-a-length deliveries were inch-perfect. Three of the four balls he landed on that length got him wickets. The other wicket came off a delivery on a good length. He was so accurate he conceded 12 runs in 15 deliveries.
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Thanks for reading. Until next time… - CS