My Cricket Experiences: More of South Africa's Characters

Welcome back to my cricket experiences.

In my last edition I spoke of a few of my favourite South African players. Having spent a lot of time with the Proteas over the past few years, I got to know many of them whilst working at St. Georges Park in Port Elizabeth.

Andre Nel, Herschelle Gibbs, and AB De Villiers were all covered—but there's a lot more to the SA side.

For a start, there is Makhaya Ntini. The veteran fast bowler is one of the country's favourite sporting stars and is always surrounded wherever he goes. He's a bit of a womanizer—but wouldn't you be if it was right there in front of you?

Funnily enough, you're just as likely to find Ntini sleeping in the physio room during a day's play as you are to see him lead the South African attack.

My funniest memory of the man is being handed his medical aid card, R100, and then being told to get to the nearest pharmacy for his prescription. Well, the picture doesn't look like me I thought!

So there I am, looking for an open pharmacy on a quiet Sunday afternoon with the SA team masseuse.

"People tend to look at me as a crazed fan rather than a team member," he says, kitted out in all SA merchandise, handing over Makhaya's details to the pharmacist.

You can do anything if you're famous, I tell you. That's a bit like going to the bank with another man's bank card and drawing hard cash!

Ntini's fellow fast bowler Dale Steyn is also a bit of a character. The last time we spoke he roped me into lying to SA team bosses about how much ice there was in the ice bath.

Please! What was I meant to say? I felt sorry for the guy. Ten overs at 140+ km/h, then being forced to stand in what is literally a wheelie bin of ice and water!

I'd say the happiest member of the squad was always Shaun Pollock.

The veteran "ginger ninga" always had a smile on his face, but he didn't really interact with the lads like myself. He was always happy to have a laugh with his teammates, but was definitely a very private person.

If I'd had the career he had, then I'd be pretty happy with myself, too. A true South African legend!

The loudest player on the team is of course Mark Boucher. The wicketkeeper is never short of a story or a wind up.

I'll always remember a story about his boarding school days, that involved bedding a girl during his teams innings—before running out to bat still with a condom on his manhood!

True or not, it made for easy listening and makes him any South African man's hero! Though he is a bit of an arrogant sod!

Graeme Smith once asked me before the toss of a one day international if I thought there would be dew that night. I told him that I reckoned so.

A few hours later, and South Africa had lost. I then overheard him moaning about the dew and the weather reports. I had a right laugh I'll tell you!

Having said that, Bob Woolmer once asked me a weather question and I had no clue—he called me useless!

I'll be back soon with one last insight—into the players that didn't make much of an impression.

Sure I can spice it up though!