It was a sweltering evening at the Wankhede Stadium. As Heinrich Klaasen made a mockery of the English bowling line-up, something else was clearly evident – Sweat was dripping out of his helmet, eyes, arms, everywhere. Mark Wood, the tearaway fast bowler, soon nailed a yorker, with Klaasen falling flat on the ground due to the sheer impact of the toe-crusher. A few thoughts flashed in the mind as to whether Klaasen’s fireworks were coming to an end. Reality turned out to be something different.
After taking refreshments, Klaasen was back up on his feet. Wood was deposited into the stands over long-on and then through fine-leg for a four. Klaasen also let out a roar, which seemed to be directed towards Wood. It came as a bit of a surprise for onlookers as Klaasen isn’t exactly known to be expressive on the field.
He might have gotten carried away by all the emotions. After all, he had just reached a blazing hundred off only 61 deliveries. Whatever it was, thousands of words would have been penned by now about Klaasen’s twin blitz at the Wankhede – against England and Bangladesh. Klaasen’s amazing performance in the ongoing World Cup is a culmination of an incredible 2023, where he averages close to 60 with the bat and has an eye-popping strike rate of 151.20.
Even if you travel back in time a bit to 2020, Klaasen’s numbers in ODI cricket make for impressive reading – 1360 runs at an average of 52.3 and a strike rate of just over 125. These are believe-it-or-not numbers for someone who bats in the middle order and is expected to press the booster button in the slog overs.
For a minute or two, it might feel as if Klaasen never had any self-doubts about his ball-striking skills. But just like any other athlete, he too has had to chisel away at the rough edges of his career path. At the fag end of 2019, he was left out of the Test side after playing just a solitary game in India. Worse still, the day he was dropped, the team he led in the Mzansi Super League slipped to a loss.
Although a couple of vital hands against India in 2017-18 acted as a shimmering light in the abridged versions, he hadn’t yet won the trust of the South African think-tank. At 28, Klaasen needed a guiding light to help him carve out a successful path.
Enter Mark Boucher. The former South African wicketkeeper-bat was announced as the head coach of the national set-up in December. A little more than three years earlier, Boucher had taken over the mantle of being the head coach of the Titans franchise in domestic cricket. Around that time, Klaasen was not finding it easy to break into the Titans playing XI, and that too despite having a few excellent seasons for Northerns. But with Boucher at the helm, his career was about to branch out and blossom.
That season, Klaasen averaged close to 50 in the Sunfoil first-class competition for Titans. He also showed enough promise in the CSA T20 Challenge. Recognition duly followed as Klaasen was named Titans Player of the Year. During the awards function, Klaasen heaped praises on Boucher alongside Neil McKenzie, former South Africa batter, for helping him to grow as a cricketer.
With Boucher backing Klaasen to the hilt, he smacked a 114-ball 123 against the Australian pace trio of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood in an ODI in Paarl in January 2020. He had compiled that breezy knock after coming out to bat with South Africa precariously placed at 48 for 3. Another couple of fifties followed in that series. Looking back at that Australia-South Africa contest, it’s fair to say he hasn’t looked back since.
Not just in limited overs cricket, Klaasen also is on the verge of having a breakout season in the longest format. In November last year, he crunched a spectacular 240-ball 292 for Titans against Knights at Centurion in South Africa’s four-day competition.
Fast forward to the 2023 World Cup, and he is yet to fail in a single game. If you wish to mark Klaasen’s performances so far in harsh fashion, then his 28 off 28 deliveries against Netherlands could be counted as a bit of failure as he didn’t steer the side to safety. Although it is harsh to judge that as a flop show, as he was dismissed playing a stroke with enough conviction behind it, and taking the aggressive route is a part of his game.
There is another vexed question to be answered. What makes Klaasen look like an alien, who towers over his current contemporaries when it comes to power-hitting? Probably it is to do with his solid base. And that base is blended with mobile hips and bat-speed through fast hands. The resultant outcome is bazooka hits, especially over midwicket and wide of long-on.
This South African team seems to have the hunger to do something special. The way the players warming the bench celebrated one of the wickets in the game against Australia gave an inkling that there is great bonding and team spirit in the camp. And Klaasen is at the forefront of South Africa’s mission resurrection after a succession of heartbreaks in ICC tournaments: be it extreme conditions at the Wankhede or 150 kph yorkers, he seems focused on his goals.
If, as expected, South Africa progress to the knockout phase of the tournament, it could very well be a Klaasen Storm that lifts South Africa to World Cup glory.