Publications
Partners
Part One
I suppose I should introduce myself: I’m a cricket bat. More specifically, I’m Albie Morkel’s juggernaut Wasp blade – you know, the one that helps him bludgeon the ball greater distances out of the park than most.
As I begin my second campaign just beneath his strong arms, wrists and hands for Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League, I have some good and bad to report.
First the really good bit: I have struck up a deal with South African sports website giant www.Sport24.co.za in which they will feature a sticker promoting their illustrious brand on the back of me for the duration of the 2009 IPL. Look out for it next time you see me in a TV camera close-up.
I’ve befriended the sticker very quickly: not only does it put some extra gusto behind my plan to power the Super Kings to lofty (“lofting” is Albie’s speciality, after all) achievements around South Africa, but it’s warmed me nicely against the autumn nip in the air as well – a bit like having a pullover on.
Bats need all the friends they can get: with a heat-seeking guy like Albie employing me, I often feel like a punch-drunk boxer. (Sadly there seem to be no pain-killers for my kind of headache.)
Don’t forget how demanding on me Albie was last year: he blasted 241 runs at 34.42 (that’s pretty tidy in the 20-overs game, isn’t it?) and at a strike rate of 147.85.
I helped him clear the ropes 14 times for sixes – not to mention 18 fours -- as our side reached the inaugural final of the IPL.
Only Albie’s Indian pin-up team-mate Mahendra Singh Dhoni (some say he’s the master of all blasters) recorded more sixes for our franchise – 15.
Now for the more irksome news: Albie and I weren’t able to play in our opening match against Mumbai Indians at Newlands because South African Airways somehow managed to temporarily “lose” me and some of Albie’s other most precious kit in transit from Johannesburg to Cape Town early on Saturday morning.
Yes, despite having played for the Proteas against the Aussies on Friday night, Albie had warned me to stay prepared because he wanted to go straight into action for the Super Kings.
I even heard him imploring the person at check-in that even if nothing else did, at least his cricket kit needed to be waiting for him at the other end. I even felt them slap a “priority” sticker onto us -- some priority we turned out to be!
Without his right-sized boots (tens!) and all, Albie was simply unable to take his place.
I was only reunited with Albie after the IPL opening-day dust had settled. I’m not sure who was more grumpy – me or him.
We both felt we might have been able to make a crucial difference, after all, as we lost to Mumbai by an agonising 19 runs. I’d been so “up for it”, especially with the extra new bling on me in the shape of the Sport24 sticker.
But we’re together at last, and watch us make up some lost ground for the Super Kings.
Uh-oh … I can feel one of my off-the-meat headaches coming on!
*Albie’s bat was talking to Sport24 chief writer Rob Houwing. Watch out for Part Two next week …
I suppose I should introduce myself: I’m a cricket bat. More specifically, I’m Albie Morkel’s juggernaut Wasp blade – you know, the one that helps him bludgeon the ball greater distances out of the park than most.
As I begin my second campaign just beneath his strong arms, wrists and hands for Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League, I have some good and bad to report.
First the really good bit: I have struck up a deal with South African sports website giant www.Sport24.co.za in which they will feature a sticker promoting their illustrious brand on the back of me for the duration of the 2009 IPL. Look out for it next time you see me in a TV camera close-up.
I’ve befriended the sticker very quickly: not only does it put some extra gusto behind my plan to power the Super Kings to lofty (“lofting” is Albie’s speciality, after all) achievements around South Africa, but it’s warmed me nicely against the autumn nip in the air as well – a bit like having a pullover on.
Bats need all the friends they can get: with a heat-seeking guy like Albie employing me, I often feel like a punch-drunk boxer. (Sadly there seem to be no pain-killers for my kind of headache.)
Don’t forget how demanding on me Albie was last year: he blasted 241 runs at 34.42 (that’s pretty tidy in the 20-overs game, isn’t it?) and at a strike rate of 147.85.
I helped him clear the ropes 14 times for sixes – not to mention 18 fours -- as our side reached the inaugural final of the IPL.
Only Albie’s Indian pin-up team-mate Mahendra Singh Dhoni (some say he’s the master of all blasters) recorded more sixes for our franchise – 15.
Now for the more irksome news: Albie and I weren’t able to play in our opening match against Mumbai Indians at Newlands because South African Airways somehow managed to temporarily “lose” me and some of Albie’s other most precious kit in transit from Johannesburg to Cape Town early on Saturday morning.
Yes, despite having played for the Proteas against the Aussies on Friday night, Albie had warned me to stay prepared because he wanted to go straight into action for the Super Kings.
I even heard him imploring the person at check-in that even if nothing else did, at least his cricket kit needed to be waiting for him at the other end. I even felt them slap a “priority” sticker onto us -- some priority we turned out to be!
Without his right-sized boots (tens!) and all, Albie was simply unable to take his place.
I was only reunited with Albie after the IPL opening-day dust had settled. I’m not sure who was more grumpy – me or him.
We both felt we might have been able to make a crucial difference, after all, as we lost to Mumbai by an agonising 19 runs. I’d been so “up for it”, especially with the extra new bling on me in the shape of the Sport24 sticker.
But we’re together at last, and watch us make up some lost ground for the Super Kings.
Uh-oh … I can feel one of my off-the-meat headaches coming on!
*Albie’s bat was talking to Sport24 chief writer Rob Houwing. Watch out for Part Two next week …
