EXCLUSIVE: “WE WANT TO KEEP RAISING THE BAR,” SAYS PROTEAS BATTER DONOVAN FERREIRA AHEAD OF WINDIES SERIES
Proteas batter Donovan Ferreira aims to raise the bar ahead of the Windies series, reflecting on his unconventional journey to international cricket and experiences from global leagues.
Image Credits: Christopher Lee - ECB/ECB via Getty Images
Having made the World Cup final for the first time two months ago, the Proteas want to keep raising the bar and standards when they face the West Indies in the Caribbean.
TRAVELLING THE ROAD LESS TRAVELLED TO GET TO INTERNATIONAL CRICKET
Donovan Ferreira is one of the few players that have walked the road less travelled to get to the very top of the sport.
Unlike the likes of Kagiso Rabada, Quinton de Kock and even Kwena Maphaka who all broke into the Proteas set-up after dominating the international under-19 space, Ferreira had to go through a longer route to finally earn his maiden call up.
The 26-year-old went from juggling a full-time job and playing University cricket, for TUKS, to getting a contract at one of most domestic teams in South Africa, the Titans.
From that point onwards, the batting all-rounder has gone on to be a regular in the Titans side, to earning a multi-million-rand contract in the SA20 league to featuring in the Indian Premier League and recently in The Hundred as well.
All that hard work and that long road has led to a level-headed young man with confidence in his skillset as he is about to play in his second international series when South Africa go head-to-head against the West Indies in a three-match T20I series which gets underway tomorrow in Trinidad.
I've been fortunate enough to play in various competitions around the world which has given me a lot of experience and taught me a lot of lessons.
Donovan Ferreira
"I think I'll definitely have a lot of experience behind myself but playing international cricket, the intensity is different. It's going to be exciting to showcase what I have to offer.
"The Caribbean wickets are a bit tougher to bat on and propose its own challenges which is exciting because as a player you want to be put in difficult situations and thrive in those situations.
“That's why we play sports is to challenge ourselves daily and make sure that we are getting better," he added.
GAINING EXPERIENCE PLAYING ALL AROUND THE WORLD
Having played all around the world, Ferreira has been exposed to different conditions and has played with and against some of the best cricketers in the world.
All that experience has thus helped the youngster to better understand how to adapt to different conditions and how to best handle the different pressure situations in front of full stadiums.
"With all these opportunities that I've been given, I've gained a lot of confidence especially coming out of The Hundred now and winning the competition with the team (Oval Invincibles) over there," he said.
Image Credits: Nathan Stirk - ECB/ECB via Getty Images
"It's going to be exciting to play against the West Indies and showcase what we have coming off the Proteas doing really well in the World Cup. They set the standard quite high for us coming into the squad. So, we just want to keep raising the bar and keep pushing it as a team and as individuals we want to perform as well.
"The SA20 is a really good standard, and the support was really good. That creates pressure moments and being in those pressure moments allows you to grow as a player.
"You can't imitate that, you can train as hard as you want, you can do specific training to give yourself the best chance to perform but doing it in front of a full stadium with the game on the line, that's where you actually gain experience and gain confidence as a player.
"The Indian Premier League is a different beast. It's different conditions over there. Their spinners are good, so my spin play has improved tremendously facing a lot of mystery players in India.
"And then playing in the UK where there's a bit more swing and a bit more bounce. So, it's been good playing all these different conditions," he added.
Image Credits: Christopher Lee - ECB/ECB via Getty Images
BATTING IN THE MIDDLE ORDER
Although Ferreira is a well-known versatile batter, he has made a name for himself as one of the best finishers in world cricket.
What has been key in him establishing himself as a finisher has been his calmness at the crease and his ability to rise to the occasion instead of allowing the pressure to get the better of him in pressure situations.
The youngster told SportsBoom that batting in the middle order is an advantage as it also gives him time to read how the wicket is playing while he is sitting in the dugout waiting for his chance to take to the middle.
"The West Indies has its own challenges so it’s about assessing really quickly in the game. Luckily for me batting at six, I can see what the wicket is doing with the guys batting ahead of me and formulate a nice game plan around that," he said.
Ongama Gcwabe is an experienced Sports Journalist based in South Africa. In his career, Ongama’s work has been published in the country’s biggest newspapers company, Independe Newspapers, and some of the leading news and sports websites including IOL Sport.