Sometimes, going back in time offers a sense of perspective that can cut through noise in the present.
With the issue of Thami Tsolekile’s non-selection in 2012/13 having been forensically analysed in the Graeme Smith arbitration proceedings in recent days, I was reminded of a chat I had with Thami at Newlands a couple of years before all that. It ended up as a sidebar in a piece I did for the South African editions of Sports Illustrated magazine — in January, 2010.
The main piece was dedicated to answering the question of who would ultimately take Mark Boucher’s place on the wicketkeeping throne. Tsolekile was one of the four hopefuls highlighted (see image below — bear in mind Quinton de Kock was just 17 at the time!). But I wanted to find out about the disappearing act he’d done since his lone Test appearance a few years before — hence sitting down with him outside the visitors’ dressing room at Newlands, where his Lions were facing the (then) Cape Cobras in a four-day game.
In the interview, Tsolekile was open and honest about his own shortcomings and mistakes in the past. At the same time, he believed he had turned a corner and was going places. It’s a thought-provoker!
The old PDF scans from the piece wouldn’t be a great reading experience, so I’m voicing that sidebar on Tsolekile as audio: click the play button above!
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