INTERVIEW
Follow UsAs a kid playing professional sports, everyone dreams of playing for the country. However, a lot of hard work and luck need to go in your favour. That’s exactly what JJ Smuts would have dreamt of when he took the field as a 13-year-old for the Eastern Province in Durban. From there, he played age-group cricket and was also part of the ICC Under-19 World Cup 2008 in Malaysia, where he finished as South Africa’s second-highest run-getter.
Despite churning out the runs in domestic cricket, Smuts had to wait until 2017 to make his senior Proteas debut. He played a total of just 19 white-ball matches, slamming one fifty and picking up five wickets before never returning to the national setup.
Moreover, he averaged over 48 with the bat in first-class cricket in 2019 and about 23.8 with the ball, but he never really got into the Test side. Smuts, who will lead South Africa in the upcoming Hong Kong Sixes, says that not playing more for South Africa was indeed a tough pill to swallow.
“I suppose, in South Africa, we've got a very, very competitive environment. We're producing a lot of young cricketers. I think it's being shown even more now with the SA20. I suppose they are not considered young, young anymore, but your guys who are in their mid-20s, early 20s, your Bretzkees, your Stubbs, Rickletons and all those guys are starting to come through and really push their names forward to play permanently in the South African side,” Smuts told Cricket.com.
“And then also saying that all the senior statesmen in the Proteas side are still performing, still doing well, still winning matches. Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Rassie van der Dussen and all these players. So I think personally it was a tough pill possibly to swallow, not to be almost a bit more permanently in the national side. But that's life, that's sport sometimes, you know, you have, you can be half decent player and just never quite nail down a spot.
“That could be timing, that could be just not scoring runs at the right time, or it could just coincide with someone else scoring runs at the right time that's playing really well
“The one thing that will always hold South African cricket in good stead is, I think, we've always got competition. They are always producing loads of talent and I think, you know, it, it's just, sometimes you just need a bit of luck to make sure you stay in there and before you nail down your spot.“
Smuts has seen various versions of the T20 tournaments played in the country, starting from the Mzanzi Super League, the Ram Slam T20, the Pro20 Series, the CSA T20 league and even the SA20. The all-rounder won the inaugural edition of the SA20 in 2023 with Sunrisers Cape Town, and in 2024, his side, Durban Super Giants, fell short of the final hurdle.
Smuts believes that the level SA20 is at right now is terrific. “I think SA20 has definitely stood out, if I can put it like that. I think the organisation of that tournament is unreal,” he said.
“I think it just, after the year one, we thought, well, it can't really get much better than this as players and year two was way better than it. They just keep improving and upgrading it, which is so awesome. I think the quality of cricket is unreal. Speaking to a lot of the foreign coaches as well, what they really enjoy about, you know, the SA20 is that there's a little bit more competition between bat and ball.
“Obviously, a lot of them have been in the IPL where it's very much if you, if you don't get 200, you pretty much lose the game, whereas now in SA20, scores of 160-170 are often defended. I think the variability in pitches you get across the country in South Africa is obviously also very exciting because you, you don't go to this, to this a different ground and almost expect the same way of play.”
As a result, Smuts believes that the strategies and plans the captains and coaches devise are much different in the SA20 compared to the IPL.
“It's very different. I think therefore, the strategies of team owners and team captains and coaches also then change because they've got to pick sides that are able to do well at home. So I think it's, awesome like that. I think this is just going to allow South African cricket just to get better and better,” Smuts, who scored five fifties across the two seasons, said.
“I think we're already starting to see it with some of the talent being unearthed, and I think, too, what will start happening now is some of our players who maybe aren't as well known on the international stage will now start getting into a few other leagues playing a few other tournaments.
“You know, I play with a guy called Ottneil Baartman at the Dolphins. He's been a consistent performer for the Dolphins for a number of years, and now, all of a sudden, he's put his name up with the Sunrisers with their two performances.
“He's now all of a sudden got into the major league, he's playing for South Africa at World Cups and nearly got them over the line. So, I think that is what the SA20 is all about. It's about just unearthing this new talent, and I think we just, it's just going to get bigger and bigger, and we're going to see some entertaining youngsters come through.”
One man who has taken the SA20 by storm is Aiden Markram. He has led the Sunrisers to the title in both seasons so far and, more recently, became the first South African captain to lead a senior South African men’s side to a World Cup final.
Naturally, the question is will he take over the ODI side of things as well? Smuts believes that it is just a matter of time.
“A guy like Aiden [Markram] has been a prodigy, if I could use that term, having won the Under-19 World Cup and having been a leader almost his whole career,” Smuts said.
“Obviously, he's got all the credentials to do that. I guess that will be CSA's decision about when they feel the right time is for him or if he is the right guy, and so on. The one advantage he does have is that he's a world-class player and he's making the team in all three formats, which obviously makes a big difference.
“He's played really well over the last number of years. So I think he's done really well. I think the fact that he's also won two SA20s also adds a lot to his profile, not that it really needs it to be fair. But I suppose that's Cricket South Africa's decision on how they want to move forward. Their team dynamic, their team culture, they have a white-ball coach and a red-ball coach. So, both coaches have also got to go in a certain way and how they do things.
“But as I said, I think Aiden has obviously done pretty much all he can with regards to leading the Proteas to a T20 World Cup final, having won two SA20s, he's captained in the IPL small things like that. So, I do think he's got all the credentials there. It's just obviously how the coaches and the hierarchy in Cricket South Africa want to move forward.”
For seven seasons from 2008 to 2014, a tournament mirroring the UEFA Champions League, Champions League T20 (CLT20), was played. It featured 10-12 top sides across the globe. Following the success of the first edition of the IPL, India, Australia, and South Africa got together to discuss the possibility of such a tournament coming to fruition.
Smuts played for the Warriors in the 2011 edition of the tournament, smashing 88 off 65 against South Australia, 46 off 43 against Kolkata Knight Riders and 38 off 39, all opening the innings as the Warriors missed out on a shot at making the semis on net run-rate.
Smuts says he would love for the tournament to return, but with so much cricket happening around the world, finding a window could be an issue.
“That was an unbelievable tournament,” the 36-year-old said.
“I think for domestic cricketers to go and play against other people from other countries, like to play against Victoria or New South Wales or all the Australian sides, the Indian sides, a few English sides, was just awesome.
“Otherwise, as a South African domestic team, you never play against teams like that. You might play against some of their players, but you never get to play against those teams, and I think that was just an unbelievable tournament to be a part of.
“It's very sad to see it go. I think they will obviously decide on, you know, how they want to go forward. I know there have been talks about potentially relaunching it and stuff like that. I can, all I can speak from as a player is that it was an unbelievable tournament to be a part of.”
A similar tournament, though, is being organised in Guyana on a small scale, nevertheless involving just five teams, called Global Super League. In addition to the Guyana Amazon Warriors (CPL), Hampshire Hawks (T20 Blast), Rangpur Riders (BPL), Lahore Qalandars (PSL) and Victoria (Australia state team) will be involved in the inaugural edition. Could a successful tournament pave the way for the return of a tournament like the CLT20?
“There's so much cricket being played at the moment. You know, you can, you can just see the clashes with tournaments that are happening around the world. It is quite difficult to fit things in,” Smuts, who has played 217 T20s since his debut in 2008, said.
“ICC have also got a lot more ICC tournaments, with the Champions Trophy coming back in now, which is awesome to see. So it's, it's exciting again, but obviously that then obviously conflicts with, with all these tournaments and everything like that.
“So, I do know it is tough. Also, in the Champions League, it's always tough because you've got people from around the world. So, you know, it's unfair if you have the tournament right in the middle of an English winter, for example, you know, those English players don't have time to prepare and then vice versa for a South African team or a New Zealand team or Australian team. So to find the balance is very difficult.”
With the likes of Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers, Hashim Amla and JP Duminy being at the top of their games hindering Smuts’ selection into the national side, he may not have reached the heights he would have liked to, but he always kept knocking on the doors. Having played close to 500 competitive matches, Smuts has certainly had a career he can be proud of, given that he’s already a cult favourite back home.
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