Johannesburg - “All I want is recognition and respect,” Sisanda Magala says matter-of-factly.
For someone who didn’t play for the Proteas last summer, Magala garnered a truckload of attention. Some of that was because of his performances on the field for the DP World Lions (Central Gauteng), which earned him the Division 1 One-day Cup Player of the Season, the Domestic Players' Player of the Season and the SA Cricketers Association Most Valuable Player Award. He was the leading wicket-taker in that One-day competition, which the Lions won, but that wasn’t the primary reason for all the fuss about Magala.
When the national selectors named the Proteas squad for the One-day series with Bangladesh in March, the statement from Cricket SA made a point of highlighting why Magala was omitted – he’d failed a fitness test. It was an usual move to so publicly "out" a player, and it hurt Magala.
“I’m 31 years old, not 22… I know I’m not a physically gifted person, but I’ve never let that stop me from performing on the cricket field,” Magala said this week.
It took him a long time over the off-season to process all the controversy that erupted. Just days after that squad announcement, he played a oneday match for the Lions and took 6/55 against the Warriors.
Magala felt Cricket SA shifted the goalposts as far as demands around his fitness were concerned – a sentiment shared privately by the Lions management too.
Cricket SA have set clearer fitness standards for the coming season, and provincial coaches are hopeful that there’ll be consistency about what was a contentious issue in local cricket circles.
Magala feels last season’s controversy has inhibited his chances of adding to his seven international caps.
“I do not know (about playing for the Proteas); I’m not saying it is not a priority, but the way goalposts were moved, there’s a lot of barriers... But, it hasn’t stopped me from still wanting to play for the Proteas."
Within the Lions change-room, there is no doubt about his importance or his preparation for matches.
“Sisanda is mentally one of the strongest players I’ve ever worked with,” says Lions coach Wandile Gwavu. “He is clear about what he wants to achieve, he is working really hard behind the scenes… there’s no work ethic issues. Maybe there was, way back, but now, there are no work ethic issues.”
Magala’s had a notable ally over the past few years in Proteas legend Dale Steyn.
“Before I even played for Cape Town Blitz (in the Mzansi Super League) he was tweeting about me. People don’t realise how great a human being he is. With all his success and what he’s achieved in the game, and who he is as a person, he’s a great role model.”
To further underline how much Steyn rates Magala, the former Proteas fast bowler, who is part of the Sunrisers Eastern Cape coaching staff, persuaded the team’s ownership to splash out R5.4-million on Magala for the SA20 competition that will be played in January.
Magala admits he was stunned. “I didn't expect to go for that. My agent gave me an estimate of where I’d likely end up. The main thing for me was just to be involved in the tournament, that’s all I wanted.”
It means Magala will remain very much in the spotlight as the top eight provincial teams prepare to start the 2022/23 season with the CSA T20 Challenge in Potchefstroom from Monday.
“One of the things that people don't want to do is acknowledge that there is going to be pressure... you have to perform and if you don’t do well there’s going to be this and that (criticism). But it’s part of the game, you’ve got to take the good with the bad.”
Magala has credited the Lions performance analyst Prasanna Agoram with providing forthright perspectives about his play, whether it's about bowling too many no-balls or allowing himself to bat more freely.
“He said that when I was batting, I was holding it in a bit, wanting to take it too long and meanwhile there was an opportunity to finish the game now. He wants me to embrace my instincts and play without fear."
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