The Banker: Aaron Phangiso
Aaron Phangiso’s career has come full circle, signing for Titans in 2021 brought him back home, where everything started for him as a professional cricketer.
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The young boy worked his way to the front of the crowd. As expected for a kid his age, he was in shorts, and his feet were dusty - he had been playing with his mates when the bus arrived. It was a great day in Soshanguve. A young Hansie Cronje had come with his team to open a cricket ground. South Africa was still a young democracy, in its infancy. The government had set up a programme to spread the sport far and wide.
Hansie and his men looked resplendent in their white trousers with the single sharp pleat at the front, the green blazers with the golden stripes and the green and gold Proteas emblem.
The young boy stood there, transfixed.
He had never seen anything like this before. These guys looked so neat and so organised. They behaved with purpose and a strong sense of camaraderie. They were a part of a collective, that appealed to him greatly.
Growing up in the township, you don't find a lot of that. The closest to that in the township was when amajita, the young men, played ichallenge on Sundays. Challenge, or ichallenge, was a football competition. An informal football competition between local teams. Amateur teams. A lot of times without any sort of sponsorship.
Every now and then, they could put together money for the game, money they made from doing this and that if they were not formally employed. But, most of the time, they just played for fun. Skins against shirts.
Hansie and his men opened a new world that the young boy had no idea existed. The young athlete from Block FF, Soshanguve, could tell that these guys had a different reality. They were nothing like the men and young men who competed in ichallenge.
He wanted to be one of them. Their world looked very different to his. His world was limited to grassless football fields and dusty no-name streets that he played on day in and day out. Sometimes he would see the outside world, like the other time he represented his school at a regional athletics heat. The young boy ran both long and short distances.
In his world, he walked about 4 kilometres to school.
It was a long walk. A fun long walk, because there were a lot of people coming from the same area as the young boy. A lot of the time, Aaron and the other kids did not notice the distance. The rainy days were probably the hardest, in hindsight. On numerous occasions, they had to make their way in the rain with no umbrella or raincoats. Their parents couldn’t afford them. They would only give them a black plastic bag for the books and that was it.
This group of guys did not look like they had the same things in their world.
He didn’t know their names and none of them noticed him as he stood wide-eyed watching every move that Hansie and his team made. In the future, some of them would know him as The Banker.
“You know, it’s funny, I fell in love with the game before I touched a proper cricket ball,” says Aaron Phangiso. “Seeing those guys, the late Hansie and the rest of the team in the green and gold just blew my mind and from there I just fell in love with the game.”
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Aaron’s parents walked onto the grounds of Christian Brothers College. The couple travelled from Soshanguve to Boksburg using taxis and completed whatever was left of the journey to the school on foot. It was not much.
They were one of the handfuls of parents that did not drive to the school. Maybe one or two other sets of parents of scholarship learners had made the trip in the same manner. Aaron did not mind that, he was just happy that they had made it. He was playing for the Under-14s against Affies and he was excited to do that in front of his parents. It helped that he performed well on the day.
For Mr and Mrs Phangiso, this was their first time at a private school. The first time they had watched a proper live cricket match. Aaron Phangiso was one of the lucky township kids who earned a sports scholarship after a top performance at the previous year’s Standard Bank Week.
Phangi was a medium-pacer back then. But, his career as a medium-pacer was short-lived. He was always a small boy, diminutive, and at CBC he found himself playing against bigger and stronger boys. The other seamers were stronger and faster. He couldn’t compete.
Pace had gotten him in, spin was going to make him the Banker.
Anyway, the rules of engagement here were different in this new environment. Back in Soshanguve, teachers from Vukani were part of the community. They were no different from the Phangisos, and their children were no different from Aaron. Mr and Mrs Phangiso were probably wondering how their son had managed to adapt to this new world.
There is a famous Makhaya Ntini story. On his first day at Dale College, the Proteas legend showed up with a knobkerrie, went straight to the matric quad and sat there. No one flinched. He made his presence felt.
Not many scholarship students can make such an impression on the first day. Many behave like deer caught in the headlights. It’s a new world, one that takes some time to get used to.
The first year or two is the most difficult for a scholarship beneficiary. It's not an easy transition. First, boarding school and boarding house cultures are light years removed from the day-school culture. It is an uncomfortable change, especially for students in their early teens.
The social dynamics are also very different. For many, being poor is a rumour that they grow up believing in. But they just don't know how poor they are. The haves and the have-nots of the township are within touching distance of each other.
Things are different at top-tier schools, the ones that have the best cricket coaches and facilities and history, are filled with children from well-to-do families. Being in close contact with them exposes to them the extent of their poverty.
The cricket system is different and is on a level that is also higher than what one was accustomed to. At Vukani Primary School, where Aaron went before coming to CBC, they had a single team. Anyone with enough interest could make that team. Things were different at CBC, there was an A team, a B team, a C team and so on for each age group.
It was also a big jump academically.
At Vukani, Aaron had been an okay student, averaging around 80%, or thereabouts. At CBC his marks dropped.
“Everything also dropped because of the cultural difference in teaching. You are now taught in English,” Phangiso says. “Back at my former school, we were taught in vernacular. My English was that movie English, things we picked up from watching guys like Van Damme, Chuck Norris and others.”
Then add to all of that the pressures of being a scholarship student. Being a scholarship student comes with an inherent expectation, you have to perform at your best consistently. Performance is what justifies your presence at the school.
It took Aaron Phangiso two years before he fully adapted to life at CBC. Having a mentor would probably have helped, unlike schools like St. Stithians which had mentorship programmes running at the time.
Former Proteas assistant head coach, Enoch Nkwe, is one of the people who benefited from the mentorship programme offered by St. Stithians. He had Grant Elliot as his mentor. The relationship helped Enoch adapt to the new surroundings and also gave him a confidant.
At CBC the scholarship learners had to figure things out as they went along. There are stories of scholarship learners that failed to adjust and had to be moved to other schools.
But, on their first visit to the school, Aaron’s parents would have never known that he was still trying to find his bearings. Aaron was in control. Where the school and cricket were concerned, his parents looked at him for direction and he did his best to not let them down.
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Aaron had news to share with his parents. He could not just offload the information, he had to explain things in a way that his parents understood. If Aaron had followed his football dream, this talk would have been easier. Everyone had an idea of how things work with football teams.
Aaron used to play as a centre-back for a team called the Blizzards. It was a top team in Soshanguve.
He had not pursued that route. Thankfully, he now had years of experience explaining the cricket world to his parents, he had been doing this since he was 13. When he was awarded the scholarship to CBC, his parents had no idea that such things scholarships existed.
“Before my scholarship, my parents never knew there was something called the cricket scholarship,” says Phangiso. “They were happy, but they didn’t understand these things. It was all new to them.”
PG Bison, Khaya Majola Week, Titans Academy, and all the other tournaments that he took part in, to Mr and Mrs Phangiso they were all the same, no different to every other match that he played for his school. They were all cricket games. They didn’t know their big-picture implication. But, they were so proud of their boy, nonetheless.
Unlike modern parents, Aaron’s parents had no idea about the struggles he went through. If Aaron did not share all of them with his parents, they remained in the dark. Aaron used his own discretion about what mattered and what did not matter. This was the downside to this situation, Aaron had to behave like an adult.
However, according to Aaron, there was also an upside. There was never any pressure on Aaron to do well. His parents were happy with whatever he did. There were no expectations because no one had a ‘dream’ of where everything would lead to. They were happy as long as he was happy.
"When I got in at the Titans Academy, my parents asked, ‘What is the Titans Academy? What happens there?’" Aaron narrates. “After you are done explaining, they go, ‘Okay, we're happy for you.’ The same thing happened when I took the next step and signed for the Titans. They asked me, ‘What're Titans?’ I had to tell them, ‘Titans is the main team. It's like Kaizer Chiefs.’ Then I explained the franchise system. Their response was, ‘Oh, really? Okay, you are getting there.’ Every step was an experience for them, they learned new things.
Immediately after he was appointed Lions’ head coach, Dave Nosworthy made a couple of phone calls. The first one was to Geoffrey Toyana. Toyana was an assistant coach with Easterns at the time. Nosworthy knew Geoffrey Toyana from the 1990s, and he was the kind of person whom he wanted to work with and takeover over from him when he moved on.
Geoffrey Toyana was a student of the game.
One of the next people that he called was Aaron Phangiso. The call provided a turning point in Aaron’s professional career, it was the last step to him becoming the Banker.
The Lions were looking for spin options and Phangi had the right skill set. Nosworthy had watched Phangi’s development from 2000 when young Aaron signed for the Northerns junior system. He loved his sports back then, not just cricket.
Then they reconnected in 2003 when Dave Nosworthy took over the SA Under-19 side. Aaron had grown into a well-rounded spinner then. Shortly afterwards Nosworthy moved to New Zealand.
Having lost touch with one of the Titans’ brightest prospects, Nosworthy had no idea of the tribulations the young man endured. He did not play a lot of matches in the Titans A team, despite doing very well and captaining the B team.
On many occasions, he was frog-jumped by other players. When the Titan’s specialist spinner was called up to the national side, instead of Phangi being picked to play in his stead, someone else went ahead of him. They placated him by telling him that his opportunity will come, eventually, in the future.
In 2005, in one of the rare matches that he played for Northerns, against Griquas, Phangi bowled all of five overs in a four-day match. Two overs in the first innings and three in the second. Aaron was a specialist spinner and he bowled the least number of overs. Northerns used up to eight bowlers in either inning.
Feeling unwanted, Phangi broke down and cried during the match.
Nosworthy was not aware of this story when he came back and made his call to Aaron. He picked Aaron because he saw his numbers. They were good. More than anything, Aaron’s numbers showed that he was better than B-side cricket. Aaron also had the right attitude.
Dave Nosworthy has always placed value on character and attitude. He believes that it is easier to develop skills when a player has the right attitude and character than it is to create a good team player when someone has the wrong attitude.
“He was a talented young man and had the right attitude to training,” says Nosworthy. “Throughout my coaching career, I looked at the attitude and the type of character. He was never afraid to bowl.”
His fearlessness is best explained by one of his favourite wickets. In 2012 he dismissed Sachin Tendulkar, knocked down his stumps, during a Champions League match between the Lions and Mumbai Indians. Two years earlier, in 2010, Aaron Phangiso had walked away from a match against Mumbai Indians with an economy of 13 runs an over. That was the highest among Lions bowlers. That economy was thanks to a bludgeoning he suffered at the hands of Sachin Tendulkar.
In 2012 everyone was convinced that Tendulkar would dispatch him again. Aaron was literally itching to bowl to Tendulkar. Aaron Phangiso had the last laugh. He bowled Tendulkar for 16 off 24 balls.
“Dave and I had one of those special relationships,” says Phangiso. “He became a father figure to me, he knew me very well and knew when to press the right buttons, he knew how to get me to work hard. With him, I always felt that he wanted me to get better, to be the best version of myself. And Geoffrey Toyana, he was like a big brother.”
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Aaron received his first Proteas cap, the T20 cap, in December 2012. He was almost 29. It was 20 or so years since the day he first saw Hansie Cronje and his Proteas team. The blazer had changed, it no longer had golden stripes, it had golden trimmings. Different generation.
For a moment, Aaron did not move a muscle. Over the past 19 years, Aaron had received numerous kits from age-group sides and franchises. This was his Everest. His eyes welled up. Seeing the Proteas emblem, the flag, the green and gold, was all overwhelming. He tried on the blazer and held the helmet close to his face.
A lifelong dream had come true.
What he did not know was that the Proteas was no place for a spinner at that time.
Until the emergence of Imran Tahir, South African spinners were specialists in not playing. They were treated as optional extras that the team could do without. The idea of dropping a seamer, even on a turning wicket, was not entertained for a long time. The spinner was the easy-drop man.
When they played, they had specific instructions. They were asked to keep the run rate down, keep it quiet, and get into the rough of the big fast bowlers.
Aaron Phangiso joined the Proteas just when Tahir was in the early stages of showing the Proteas a new way of thinking about spin. As a spinner, he was about to get the treatment that he and other players of colour received when they started out.
For large parts of his career at Titans, then Northerns, Aaron was only called up to the first team when someone was injured. Of course, that someone had to be a player of colour. An African player replaced an African player. If one African player was doing well for a period, then no other African player got a chance.
A spinner replaced a spinner and the team only played one spinner. Imran Tahir was the first-choice spinner for the Proteas. Phangiso only got an opportunity if Tahir was being rested.
When in doubt, South Africa played an all-seam attack. When the surfaces offered something to the spinners, they played only one spinner. That is what they did at the 2012 T20 World Cup in India. The surfaces were turning a mile, and Proteas went with the traditional three pacers and spinner attack. The rest of the teams played multiple spinners. According to Phangiso, in one match, MS Dhoni bowled only two overs of pace.
What happened in the T20s also happened in the ODIs. There was no space for two spinners in the first 11, it did not matter how much the conditions favoured spin. So, Aaron Phangiso only played in dead rubbers. It hurt.
“A lot of the time you question yourself,” says Phangiso. “You know you're good enough, but then now you start asking, ‘Do these guys really believe in me to deliver when needed?’ Those are the things that go through your mind.”
Fun has always been a big part of Aaron Phangiso’s cricket. At CBC, Aaron bowled thousands of balls because it was fun to compete against his peers in the nets and at the hostels. He has fun with his spin, and that gives the illusion that it comes naturally to him.
Phangiso was not having fun in the Proteas camp. Not playing is not fun. He spent most of his time with the Proteas wishing he was back home with his Lions teammates. At least they valued what he brought to the table. They had trust in the Banker.
Phangiso got the name because he was one of the most dependable bowlers for the Lions. He had a knack for bringing the game back or putting the team in winning positions after being against the ropes. He did it so many times that his teammates knew that when he came on to bowl, regardless of the situation, Phangiso would give the team a fighting chance.
“So, they started to say, ‘He's The Banker, he's our bank,’” says Phangiso.
Phangiso did show his Proteas teammates and the management that he was indeed the Banker in the few moments he played. The spinner has a World Cup Man of the Match award in his home. He won the accolade in the first World Cup match that he played. It was one hell of a way to show everyone what he could do. Unfortunately for him, his efforts were too little too late. The Proteas had already lost two matches and had no hope for advancement.
He also has two more Man of the Match awards from bilateral and triangular tours with the Proteas.
Phangiso is grateful that things have changed. Lots of things have changed. Players of colour are no longer in the position they were a few years ago. Spinners are now valued and respected more. And though he experienced some of the lowest moments of his cricket career in the Proteas kit, it is still his highest achievement. He is proud to have worn the green and gold.
His Proteas blazer is framed now. It is the centrepiece on the wall that has all of his other jerseys. Next to it is his Proteas shirt. On the other side is his Titans shirt.
Aaron gets emotional when he talks of the honour of representing his country. He is proud to have achieved the dream that was born when he saw Hansie and his team in Soshanguve.
“I have gotten kit before, I have been getting kit since I was 11, but none of it prepares you for the feeling you get when you receive the green and gold,” he says. “Even when you hold the frame that holds your blazer, the feelings flood back. I cannot explain it to you. It’s like singing the national anthem just before the match, it’s amazing. It’s difficult for me to put into words.”