Page 34 - SAFFER Magazine 01

SOUTH AFRICA’S PAST TIME

Aaaaah, cricket, my first love, how I miss you… but, maybe not At a basic level, the two sports are the same. See ball, hit ball,
as much as I thought I would. right? Well, not quite as simple as that. Most Americans that
I speak with argue that hitting a baseball is the most difficult
I’ve been in NYC for nearly two years now and as amazing as thing to do in all of sport. My initial retort was: “Pftt, try scor-
it’s been, I knew when coming over here that I would have to ing a double hundred on day 4 of a test match”. Again, not quite
somewhat part ways with (arguably) my biggest passion; cricket. as simple as that.
I still keep up as best I can on Cricinfo and occasionally get to
watch the odd game, but I find myself longing to play a game on For a quick breakdown: as a batter in baseball, the cream of the
a frequent basis. crop will have a batting average north of .300. There are only
20 players in the history of baseball (circa 150 years) to average
That said, when I moved out to NYC, I knew I had to find some .400+ over the course of a season. That’s less than one hit every
way to fill the void. Fortunately, I’m a massive sports fan. I have two at-bats (AB). When you break that down, you’re immedi-
always admired athletes at the highest level of any sporting asso- ately thinking: “How is hitting one ball every 3-4 AB an accom-
ciation and found a way to enjoy whatever sport I was watching/ plishment”? Well, when you’re standing 60 feet away from a guy
playing or learning about and - as a South African cricket fan who’s hurtling a ball at you at 100+ MPH who can throw sliders,
- the most obvious replacement for me was baseball, “America’s changeups, curveballs, sinkers etc. you start to get an idea.
Pastime”. Similar to the best bowlers in cricket today, they don’t purely
rely on pace, they have got to adjust to conditions and change
things up. I know this having played myself. As a fast bowler,
I took close to 50% of my wickets with my slower ball which is
essentially a change-up (sizable drop in pace) in baseball terms.
The element of surprise and deception being key. Now, extrapo-
late that when you’re facing a pitcher who can throw as many as
ten variations (some dropping as low as 60mph), all while you’re
expecting a 95+ MPH fastball.

Yankees vs Indians from a booth. My own image.

Baseball mirrors so many aspects of the things I love about
cricket. Be it the intricate strategies, the emphasis on mental
strength and concentration, the tactics involved etc. I have
been enthralled and baseball has provided a surrogate that has
*almost* made me forget about cricket… almost.
Aroldis Chapman throwing 105.5MPH. Not sure to cred-
it with the article link/writer/can’t find the photographer
name…
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/eze7xk/aroldis-chapman-
threw-a-1051-mph-fastball-should-be-traded-immediately

So, although I still question whether hitting one ball is more
difficult than scoring that double hundred, my level of respect
and admiration of hitters in baseball today is far greater than
when I initially got to the US. This chess match between hitter
and pitcher reminds me of the battle between batsman and
bowler on day 4 of a test match when the batting side is battling
for a draw. Except, in a test match, there can be periods where
the batsman rules. Conditions get easier, the ball gets older and
stops moving, the pitch gets easier to bat on etc. This isn’t quite
the case in baseball.

There are no switch off periods for a hitter in baseball. Every
Editor’s Note: Our Man in New York – in his younger days – single pitch requires absolute attention and concentration. At
swinging a cricket bat, with purpose! least on said day 4 of a test match, you can get a chance to take

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