Frylinck rides bumps on road to SA debut

Forget the frivolity of the format. Never mind the nonentities of the opposition.

South Africa's T20 series against Bangladesh starts in Bloemfontein on Thursday and if you are going to pay it any attention, it is the unusual suspects you want to watch.

Players like Robbie Frylinck, who 10 years ago was up the creek without a franchise contract. Now aged 33 and looking more like a bouncer than a bowler or a batsman, he could make his international debut.

"The key for [Frylinck] is to execute his skills under this kind of pressure," South Africa's captain, JP Duminy, told reporters in Bloemfontein on Wednesday.

Had Frylinck given up on the dream of playing for South Africa?

"You get to a stage where you say: 'Well, maybe it's not meant to be'," Frylinck said.

"It did come as a surprise but I've been waiting for it for a long time and I'm going to give it my best."

Frylinck has played 342 matches of all descriptions since his List A debut for KwaZulu-Natal in October 2004.

And for teams of all descriptions, among them the Dolphins, the Lions, Surrey - their first and second XIs - the Trinbago Knight Riders of the Caribbean Premier League, four clubs in England, and another in Holland.

He has pulled on a South Africa shirt before, but in the gimmicky Hong Kong Sixes in October 2012, and Africa Sixes Challenge in September 2014.

He went to the 2011 Indian Premier League for Delhi Daredevils but did not play a single match, and he was signed by the Pretoria Mavericks of the stillborn T20 Global League.

But his haul of 14/62 for the Dolphins against the Lions in Potchefstroom became the best figures recorded in a first-class match in South Africa.

Those kinds of ups and downs have earned Frylinck the kind of perspective that isn't available to younger players.

"I'm at that stage now where I'm not trying new things.

"I know my game," the well-travelled cricketer said.