Cricket: A major amongst minors on the battlefield

Jonty Rhodes is regarded as the best fielder in the world. Ian Stafford talks to the man from Natal who could play a key role in the five-match Test series which starts at Edgbaston on Thursday

ONLY Jonty Rhodes would have been annoyed with himself after missing what he termed as catching chances in the field during the third one-day international match at Headingley last week against an England side that had already lost the series.

The common consensus in the crowd and commentary boxes that Rhodes was one of the few, if not the only man in the world who could have reacted quickly enough to Nick Knight's fierce drives, was of little consolation to the South African, regarded by most as the best fielder in the game.

Never mind that he was on his way to picking up his second, successive man of the series award, following success earlier in the year in South Africa. Shaking his head, looking up to the Yorkshire skies, and scuffing his boot on the ground, Rhodes was less than pleased with his performance, even though the rest of us, including Knight, had assumed the batsmen's strokes were set for definite boundaries.

But if the man from Durban was unhappy, this was nothing compared to his wife, a teacher, on a fortnight's leave from school. "She told me afterwards that I had been behaving like a three-year-old," Rhodes admits. "It was a real ticking off."

No. Really? "Yes, she said: "Why on earth were you having such temper tantrums?" She then told me that I should be grateful that I have the ability to even get my hand to the ball in such circumstances, and she's right. I am grateful to be playing international cricket, and I love every moment of it. Well, almost every moment of it."

We are talking in the rather relaxed setting of Stone cricket pavilion, surrounded by ladies preparing sandwiches and tea for the Minor Counties and South African sides playing a one-day overs match in the Staffordshire town. Rhodes is enjoying a day off. For once, his clothes are clean.

"You know, I always have the most horrendous laundry bill by the end of a tour," he admits, with a self-conscious smile. "Sometimes my kit's unusable after just one match."

Watching him diving around in the covers, this is no surprise to hear. From an early age he knew his fielding was special. "When I was eleven years old I was playing for school sides much older than me," he recalls. "I used to bat number ten, and not bowl. They all thought I was worth selection on my fielding alone.

"That's been very useful to me. It definitely got me into the 1992 World Cup. I never expected to go, but I think what helped me was our re-admission to international cricket."

How does he mean? "Well, people often ask me what's been the most influential tour I've been on, and my answer is a tour that I didn't go on, the 1991 tour to India. This was our first test series since being re-admitted, and most of the older, big names went, players like Clive Rice, Jimmy Cook and Adrian Kuiper. Afterwards the selectors realised they needed a bit of youth in the outfield, which is where I came in."

Indeed he did. Is there any reason why he is so good in the field? "A lot of players see fielding as something they've got to do in between either batting or bowling," Rhodes explains. "But I don't. I practice all the time at my fielding, and I don't see it as work. I do a great deal of stopping, diving and catching. We have a trampoline net we carry around with us, or I get one of the coaches to hammer a hard tennis ball with a racquet at me. I enjoy every moment of it."

At still only 28 years old, Rhodes seems to have been around for ever. He nearly played for his country at hockey. "I was in the national squad for two years as a centre-forward," he reveals. "But I never made it into the team. Cricket chose me instead."

Does he ever mind the fact that his fielding overshadows any other aspect of his game? "It's nice to be known for something," he answers. "But it can be frustrating to be classed more as a one-day player. Like everyone else in the game, I see Test cricket as the main goal."

He does not know the precise number of Tests he's played in. "I'm not a great one for statistics," he admits. He's not even sure what his batting average is. "I think it's just over 30," he says. "Although I could be wrong." But he does know he has not performed as well as he could with the bat. Now, after a series of missed Tests and one-off appearances following a hamstring injury two years ago, Rhodes knows he has to win his regular place back.

"I've had chances to prove the selectors wrong, but I haven't always taken them. There have been times when the South Africa team have had to carry me as a batsman. I've tended to produce some runs when they've been really needed, which is pleasing, but it's also been frustrating. There shouldn't be any difference in my application, whether the score's 250-4, or 40-4."

Does he believe he will be selected for Thursday's opening Test at Edgbaston? "I think it's between Brian McMillan and myself for that number six batting spot," he says. "We'll only get to hear on Wednesday night, probably. I think I'm playing my best cricket right now. I've won the last two man of the series awards, and I've batted with a lot more patience. It could go either way, but that's good for the team. There's stiff competition for most places now."

This situation will only intensify as the game is introduced to yet more children back home in South Africa. When Rhodes first played for his country, against Australia in the 1992 World Cup, it was all a wide-eyed new experience for him. "It's the first stamp on my passport," he says. "I'd never been anywhere before.

"Now it's different, of course, and it's so exciting to see the development programme going on back home. Cricket is being made available to everybody. You can't see overnight results. It's more like a ten-year process. But we have 13 and 14-year-old black kids from the townships now who show great promise and may well be playing Test cricket in the future.

"Just think of all the untapped potential in the past. Now the black kids have an equal opportunity, and it's wonderful to see. We have so much new talent at our disposal, and we can only get better as an international team."

Such views have helped to make Rhodes one of the most popular and famous sporting figures in South Africa. He is not Allan Donald, nor Hansie Cronje, yet enjoys as much, if not more adoration from both fans and sponsors.

"But you don't have to necessarily be the best sportsman," he argues. "It's the way you play the game, and how you act off the pitch that really counts. There's a certain attitude one can adopt. I see it as a great privilege to be who and what I am, but many sportsmen don't necessarily see it that way. For instance, I do a lot of work for a charity that grants wishes to children with terminal illnesses. Some may see this as hassle, but I don't. In fact, meeting these kids is always a great leveller. It helps to put life, and certainly cricket, in to some sort of perspective."

Such a philosophical outlook is helped by his Christian faith. Although still disappointed, Rhodes accepts sporting setbacks a great deal better than most. "When I haven't been selected over the past couple of years it was because I wasn't meant to," he says. "I was carrying an injury, and I doubt I could have lasted a season. So, there was a reason for not playing.

"My game, and my life, is based on my Christian faith. Some might think my attitude's wrong, and I should be fighting harder for my place. But if I'm not in the team then the Lord does not want me to be selected." He pauses, and smiles. "I do feel I can make it this time, though."

Whether he does or not, what can we expect this summer? "It's going to be a tough series, that's for sure. There's not much between us. Maybe England have a stronger batting line up, but we have two of the best pace bowlers in the world. England would be silly to take us on in the pace department, but in players like Gough and Fraser, the run-miser deluxe, they have people who can exploit the conditions well.

"I also think Mike Atherton could play a big role. The last time we played we just won a very close series in South Africa, despite Atherton's superb batting. I think it's going to be that close again."

And what of Rhodes? "People often come up to me and ask what I'm going to do today. I always answer: "To have fun, and to give 120 per cent." That's what I do. I don't go out there thinking I'll perform a double back somersault and a flip in the hope that the cameras might catch me on film. What happens out there happens, and often I don't know what I'm going to do next."

Strangely, Rhodes has never played county cricket. It is, if you happen to be a county chairman, something he is keen to try out. Maybe a successful summer's tour might persuade a county to make the likeable, contented cricketer from Natal their overseas player next summer.

"Yeah, I wouldn't mind a summer over here," Rhodes confirms, as he heads back out to the boundary to watch his team-mates see off the Minor Counties challenge. "Mind you, I don't know if there's a vacancy for a backward point."

There's much more to Jonty Rhodes than that, believe me.