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India Gazette
16-05-2025
- Sport
- India Gazette
"They haven't pressed on my button...": Nortje's bombshell statement on South Africa's selection ahead of WTC final
Johannesburg [South Africa], May 16 (ANI): South African pacer Anrich Nortje dropped a bombshell statement ahead of the ICC World Test Championship final against Australia, saying that he has been available to play for the last year, but the selectors have not 'pressed on my button'. Nortje last wore South African colours in the ICC T20 World Cup in June last year. Since then, he has been a part of South African squads but has not gotten game time. He was also initially featured in the ICC Champions Trophy squad, but an injury meant he was ruled out and replaced by Corbin Bosch. Speaking on Sportsboom as quoted by Wisden, Nortje revealed that he has infact been available for selection all this time and his omission from the matches is simply down to selectors not picking him. 'I have been available for the last year, from before the World Cup to December, and only got selected again in December to play,' he said. 'There were a few series I was not picked for, mostly to give opportunities to others. So, from my side, I have been available to play for the country, but they have not pressed on my button,' he added. Nortje's return to the squad after T20 WC came during the home series against Pakistan last year, but he did not get any matches despite having a brilliant run at the showpiece event, with 15 scalps at an economy of 5.74, ending as the joint-second-highest wicket-taker with Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah. Last year, Nortje had declined a central contract with Cricket South Africa, but said that the board backed his decision, and it was about his body. 'It was my decision. It was just to see how my body goes. I had not had a stress fracture since 2010, and I just had a little bit of 'nervy' in the back, so I just wanted to take the time to play when I can, play when I know I am ready, rather than having to play every series or every whatever is coming up,' he said. 'So, to make that decision on my own, according to my body, has been good so far. Still happy with the decision, and it is more just for me to have the calmness and to know that, if I need a break for a week, if I need a break for a month, then I can do that,' he added. Currently, Nortje is representing Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the IPL 2025, where he has played just one match so far. In international cricket, he has taken 70 wickets in 19 Tests at an average of 26.71, 36 scalps in 22 ODIs at an average of 27.27, and 54 wickets in 42 T20Is at an average of 19.16. (ANI)
Daily Record
06-05-2025
- Sport
- Daily Record
Ryder Cup test in hostile Bethpage 'biggest challenge an away team has ever faced'
Paul McGinley insists Luke Donald's side will need characters to face an incredible and challenging atmosphere Paul McGinley reckons Europe face their biggest-ever Ryder Cup test in hostile Bethpage. The 2014 winning captain says Luke Donald's golf side will need characters to face an incredible and highly-challenging atmosphere when they get to New York in September. McGinley says the hot reaction from the United States-backing home support will test the visitors to the extreme limit. Donald led the team to success in Rome in 2023, but the Irishman said: 'My view was that the challenge that we're going to face over in Bethpage is probably the biggest challenge an away team has ever faced on either side. "That atmosphere is going to be really difficult to play in. Going away from home with 80 per cent of the crowd against you, Americans with their tails up on an American-tailored golf course. They've got home advantage,and it is a very difficult situation. 'Our players have to perform in a very hostile environment, which is a difficult thing to do. I played away from home in Detroit 2010. "I have one experience of it. Luke was my partner actually in his first Ryder Cup. "And playing when 80 per cent of the crowd are pulling against you is a difficult scenario, it requires deep concentration and it requires a bit of an edge in your personality. So we are looking for personnel who might have that edge. 'We are looking at their psyche for sure. You can have all the stats you want because our stats guys do amazing stuff now, but personality is going to be a big deal. "Who's performed in a hostile environment? Who stands up to be counted when the odds are not quite going for you? Personality traits are going to be important. Experience is going to be important.' The experience of Donald will be vital and, speaking to Sportsboom, McGinley continued: 'I was obviously involved with that decision to bring him back. The perception is that we nail the Ryder Cup and America don't. "What we do is win at home. And what American nail is winning at home. Both teams have been poor on the road. 'The Ryder Cups in the last 10 years have been pretty much one-sided with the home team winning. We haven't won away from home now since Medinah. And that was a miracle. "Before that it was eight years before that at Oakland Hills in Detroit, and I was on that team. So away matches are very difficult, much more difficult than winning at home. 'The template that works at home doesn't necessarily transfer, so we have to cultivate a new template to tackle these away matches and not just take for granted that whatever we did in the home match is going to work again, whether that be pairings, whether that be personnel, whether that be approach. 'For me the view is to create a new template away from home and the first roll of the dice with that was to put a captain in who had captained before, and who captained successfully. "So that we're not training in a new captain and dealing with all the differences of being away from home. So, bringing an ex-captain in who's been there was the first roll of the dice of doing something different. 'Luke is the captain. My job is not to tell him what to do, my job is to expand his thinking and make sure that everything is considered before decisions are made. "But ultimately, it'll be his decision. From what he said already publicly and what he has said privately, they're the kind of things that he's looking at.'
