Ongama Gcwabe
More than half of the Test matches Kyle Verreynne has played in his three-year career have been outside of South Africa.
In most cases, a career of that nature will break a young cricketer looking to make a name for himself in Test match cricket. Somehow, after all these years, Verreynne is still standing proudly, with two centuries and three fifties to his name, all achieved on enemy territory.
He has survived harsh tours to England, Australia, New Zealand, and the Caribbean twice, and he is now in Bangladesh, where conditions are harsher and far from being the same as the conditions we have here at home in South Africa.
A masterclass from Kyle Verreynne! 😤💯👏
— Proteas Men (@ProteasMenCSA) October 22, 2024
Achieving an incredible 114-run milestone, anchoring the Proteas’ innings in today’s Test against Bangladesh.
A class at the crease—take a bow, Kyle! 🏏🚀🇿🇦#WozaNawe #BePartOfIt #BANvsSA pic.twitter.com/BmKjC3UesD
Yesterday, the wicket-keeper batter further proved himself as a real force in the Proteas Test side with a lone century on a turning wicket in Dhaka. The 27-year-old was the only batter to reach three figures on that wicket, with Wiaan Mulder's maiden half-century being the second-highest score after the opening two days of the ongoing Test match at the Shere Bangla Stadium.
This was “Scholesey's“ second century in whites, with his first being in New Zealand a little over two years ago. Verreynne said yesterday that the ton in Dhaka tasted sweeter than the one he announced himself with in Test cricket.
"So far in my Test career, (this century) is the best that I've played. Probably the toughest conditions that I've played under just in terms of heat and humidity," said Verreynne.
"This one felt like a bit of a better one just in terms of the context of the game and the conditions. New Zealand is a lot similar to our conditions back home, so to do it in the subcontinent, on quite a tough wicket and in tough circumstances, for me it's the better innings."
"The impact that it's had on the game hopefully will be much bigger than in the first one. It's been a long time since the one in New Zealand, so it's nice to get another one and contribute."
The heat and humidity in Dhaka demanded Verreynne to concentrate for long periods to help South Africa post a decent enough first innings lead on Tuesday. Despite the challenging conditions, Verreynne said the high volume of spin deliveries they faced in the first two days made concentrating even harder.
"Back home, we don't necessarily go through long periods of facing just spin bowling. I think probably 90% of those innings was just against spin, where things happen quickly and you don't have much time to reset," he explained.
"I think from a concentration and physical point of view, it was the toughest. So, it's the most rewarding century that I've scored up until now."
Despite being known for his minimal foot movement when batting, Verreynne adapted his technique in Dhaka, lunging forward to execute some of the most crisp shots the game has seen. The sweep shots particularly proved effective against what is a potent Bangladesh spin attack, and Verreynne persisted until he helped South Africa reach 308 all out with a 202-run lead.
Verreynne emphasised that his preparation in Pretoria before they departed for Bangladesh instilled confidence heading into the ongoing match. The 27-year-old added that the sweep shots were not necessarily part of a pre-planned strategy.
"We were here four or five days before this Test started and did quite a lot of prep here at the ground. Our prep was really good, and that gave me a lot of confidence going into this game," said Verreynne.
"Myself and Mulder chatted quite a bit, and we just spoke to the batting coach Ashwell Prince about how we were going to go about things. There wasn't any specific emphasis put on playing the sweep.
“It was more about making sure we backed our options, not going into our shells and making sure we were trying to score. That was the focus that we put in yesterday."