Good luck and better judgement earns De Zorzi success

Tony de Zorzi started 2025 watching from the home dressing-room at Newlands as Ryan Rickelton took his place at the top of the order for the Proteas and made the position his own.

Rickelton scored 259 in that memorable knock against Pakistan. De Zorzi, who earlier in the season had scored a century in Bangladesh that seemingly cemented his spot as opener, missed the Cape Town Test with a hamstring injury.

Because Rickelton couldn’t be dropped, De Zorzi missed the World Test Championship final at Lord’s too. He would have been omitted from the first Test in Lahore had Temba Bavuma been fit, because in Zimbabwe, when the all-format players, including Rickelton were rested, De Zorzi scored just 41 runs in three innings and was out in a similar fashion each time in that series.

“I wanted to put my name in the headlights in Zim, but unfortunately that didn’t go so well,” De Zorzi said on Tuesday.

Fast forward three months, and in a weird twist, it is De Zorzi in partnership with Rickelton upon whose shoulders the Proteas chances of claiming an unlikely victory over Pakistan, rests. C’est la vie…

The two have been SA best batters at the Gaddafi Stadium, where Pakistan have created conditions, to make SA uncomfortable, with spin ruling the roost. Of the 32 wickets which have fallen, 30 have gone to spinners, including a career first ten wicket haul for Senuran Muthusamy.

De Zorzi scored his second Test hundred in the first innings and finished the third day unbeaten on 16, in the company of Rickelton.

He is aware of the good fortune which befell him as a result of Bavuma’s absence, but said “pressure” wasn’t the correct word to describe his feelings before the match. “It was more desperation…to get back into the team,” said the 28 year old, who is batting at no.4 in this Test.

“If you do miss out through injury and someone scores a double hundred, there is nothing you can do. Ricks is a gun player. You have to wait for your chance. To miss out in an ICC final where the team wins that final, I couldn’t care less if I was playing or got a duck. I was happy to be there and happy to be part of that journey in the last 18 months. I was just desperate to get back in.”

He turned that desire into runs in Lahore, riding his luck early, where outside edges flew through the slips region, while the TV umpire had to help him out three times also. “Those first 30 balls were not the greatest, I was just trying to hang in there.”

“Rickelton was playing really well, which took the pressure off me. I was just thinking about supporting him. I laughed at myself a couple of times. Hasan (Ali) asked me to play straight and I said I’m trying. But eventually it turned my way.”

He and Rickelton shared a partnership of 94 for the third wicket but beyond them, there was little else from the SA batters, with Pakistan earning a 109-run first innings lead.

Asked his secret for batting on a turning pitch, De Zorzi said there was none. “In the first innings Iman (ul-Haq) batted incredibly well, he used his feet, it was quite nice to watch from short leg. But it was his downfall in the second innings,” De Zorzi said of the Pakistan opener.

Rather - once overcame his tricky start - it was the judgment he showed in choosing the right shots, which resulted from how well he picked up the length of the spinners, and the intent to score, that proved fruitful.

The toughest challenge said De Zorzi was getting started. “You can see from the collapses that there have been in every innings, that the start (of an innings) is the toughest for the batters.”

That will be the major challenge for SA on Wednesday, with De Zorzi saying he hopes he and Rickelton can stretch their current partnership even further. “If anyone gets out there and builds a partnership then this is on,” he said of the Proteas chances.