He scaled a peak in Newlands with technique, temperament, and heart in the right place
Firdose Moonda04-Jan-2025Kyle Verreynne has done what no other South African batter has managed this decade: score a fourth Test hundred.That isn’t the most impressive stat on a day where Ryan Rickelton became the first South African to score a double hundred at home in nine years and the second-highest individual score at Newlands but it speaks to two things just as important: consistency and confidence. Verreynne, who has scored three centuries this season, now has both. And it’s thanks to a change in attitude.”Towards the end of that first stint of Test career, I sort of got caught up in technique and what you guys are saying on Twitter,” Verreynne said afterwards. “Since then, I’ve deleted Twitter and now every time I go out there, the only thing I care about is getting runs. I don’t think I’m really scared to get out anymore. I think probably before I got left out, I really put a lot of emphasis on how I look and how I get out and stuff like that. Now I’m not too bothered.”Related
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The first stint he referred was 14 Tests long between June 2021 and January 2023, where Verreynne averaged 28.60 and was best remembered for a second innings 136* in New Zealand. Those runs were not enough to convince Test coach Shukri Conrad to keep Verreynne in the squad when he took over in February 2023. He put Verreynne on what the pair now refer to as a “sabbatical,” amid sweeping selection changes that also included dropping Lungi Ngidi and picking Temba Bavuma as captain over Dean Elgar.Conrad explained his reasoning to ESPNcricinfo before this Test: “I wanted to shake things up a bit, I wanted to see how people came back and I wanted to get a reaction. But I was also very clear in terms of how I wanted to play our cricket and I was always going to go with the devils I know. I didn’t really know Kyle Verreynne.”Conrad knew Heinrich Klaasen and preferred the instinctive way he went about his game and let Verreynne know that. “He was probably the first coach that I’ve had that explained his thinking to me thoroughly,” Verreynne said. “He explained exactly why I wasn’t playing. I went on an A tour to Sri Lanka (with Conrad) after that ever since then, I’ve just really felt backed by him. It was also an opportunity to sort of clear the mind and sort of get back to the way that I normally play.”While Verreynne did not score many runs on that A tour, he had the opportunity to get to know Conrad. After Klaasen only scored 56 runs in four innings against West Indies, it was a no-brainer to recall Verreynne. In the end, “it panned out okay,” Conrad joked. “Kyle has come back really nicely.”Kyle Verreynne played aggressor to Ryan Rickelton’s anchor•AFP/Getty ImagesSo nicely that Verreynne now feels he can play with freedom, as he did on a flat deck at Newlands on Saturday. There were nervy moments upfront, and he survived two Pakistan reviews for lbw when he was on 5 and then on 31; but against an exhausted attack and with almost no pressure on him, he cashed in. Notably, he struck a good balance between being watchful on the off side, especially when Pakistan put two short covers in place and offered width, attacking on the leg-side, where he hit all of his five sixes.Verreynne also played the aggressor role to Rickelton’s anchor to perfection and scored 100 of the 148 runs in his partnership with Rickelton. As an indicator of how quickly Verreynne moved through the gears, he was on 15 when Rickelton got to 200 and reached his century before Rickelton crossed 228.Though Verreynne said there was “no real plan to be aggressive,” he ended up playing that way because the conditions and the opposition allowed it. “When I came in, they had just taken the new ball, so it was quite challenging for that first period and then I got a short ball that I hit for six and that got me ticking a little bit,” he said. “For some reason, it just felt to me like they were going to go short. I premeditated a little bit and just tried to hit it because there’s also a short side of the field.”By lunch, he was on 74 and had started to think of three figures. “I was getting a bit emotional probably when I was on 70-odd. I had a feeling things were going well so I might get there,” he said. “And it’s the first time my mum’s been here to watch me get a Test hundred. Having my mom here and my brother was really, really special for me.”More so because of who was not here. Verreynne’s long-time domestic and current international batting coach Ashwell Prince’s seat in the changeroom was empty after his wife Melissa passed away last Sunday. Much of this week has been spent remembering Melissa and mourning with Ashwell and their three young sons, all of whom are close to Verreynne.”I lost my dad a few years ago (as an adult), so I probably can’t relate to exactly what the three kids are going through. Ashy P was someone who became a father figure to me and helped me through my life for the last couple of years. So, to see what he and the kids are going through is really, really difficult,” Verreynne said. “Every time you step into the changing room and you see that Ashwell’s not there, it’s really hard. We’re just trying to embrace it and do him proud and do that family proud. Hopefully we can get a Test win and sort of dedicate it to that family.”