Limelight not the place for real cricket heroes

Parental care and self-sacrifice have laid the foundations for many successful careers

A STORY is told in Cape cricket circles - and I have no reason to disbelieve it - of Henry Kallis, Jacques's late father, painstakingly ironing his son's flannels before club matches. Kallis jnr couldn't have been more than 15 or 16 and dad also whitewashed his pads, seeing to it that the boy's kit was immaculate before he turned out for Claremont Cricket Club.

The sport is full of such tales of parental care and self-sacrifice, from the single mom who buys her son an expensive new bat for Christmas, to the long-suffering chauffeurs who pound the long summer road.

Richard Elgar, Dean's now-retired dad, went through two cars in the time his son needed to be transported from Welkom, where they lived, to Bloem, because that was nearest city with club cricket of sufficient standard for his precocious son.

"Dean started playing at Tech in Bloem when he was in Standard 7," says Richard.

"We used to make the trip from Welkom - 165km one-way - every weekend. Sometimes I would drop him off and go back to Bloem to collect him on the same day. I had two cars in that period, a Mazda and a VW Polo, both silver."

According to dad, Dean always wanted to play for the Proteas and unhesitatingly told the family so when he was a laaitie. He was chosen for the Proteas one-day squad for the series against Sri Lanka that ends at the Wanderers today, but a couple of days before joining the squad he badly injured his knee in a SuperSport Series game between the Knights and the Cobras in Kimberley.

He had fluid drained from the knee on Friday, is managing to walk, and expects to be up and about in three to four weeks.

"The journeys were long. We went to Durban twice, East London twice, up to Gauteng for provincial weeks and Coke weeks," says Richard, a former sales manager at a Welkom building supply company.

"We listened to music - rock and pop. I like U2 and Pink Floyd. Dean is into Coldplay."

The Elgars were lucky because despite Dean going to St Dominics in Welkom, Richard had an understanding boss, encouraging Dean and giving Richard time off.

"Johan Boshoff was his name - he was more into rugby than cricket, but was always ready to allow me to travel with Dean. We used to spend our summer holidays on the side of a cricket field."

Richard grew up in Welkom, went to the technical high school in the town, and retired there to watch golf on television.

He wasn't much of a cricketer in his youth but cared enough for the game that his son had the best opportunities he could provide.

Hundreds, maybe thousands, of parents around the country do exactly the same thing. They fork out for equipment, they make the sarmies and pack the collapsible chairs in the boot. I often think the real dynamo for cricket in this country - up until a certain age, of course - is parents. They do everything but play, and most would play if they could.

Moms' role in all of this is fascinating. One international coach I know believes a mother's early love and nurturing is vital in making an international cricketer feel whole.

Cricket is such a harshly attritional game, so physically and mentally punishing, that a mother's continuing love is incredibly important.

Occasionally this can be taken to extremes. One mother of a Protea has been known to take a lucky teddy bear to matches, which seems to be pushing maternal involvement to unheard-of extremes.