Sarel erwee

Sarel Erwee hit his maiden Test century in his second match against New Zealand First LV= Insurance Test: England v South Africa Venue: Lord's Dates: 17-21 August Time: 11:00 BST Coverage: Test Match Special commentary, text commentary and in-play highlights on BBC Sport website and app. Daily highlights at 19:00 on BBC Four. South Africa opener Sarel Erwee laughs as he goes through his notes on how to face England bowlers James Anderson and Stuart Board. Preparing to face a resurgent England when the first Test starts at Lord's on Wednesday, the 32-year-old Erwee is on a high that is deserved after a decade of piling on runs in South African domestic cricket. Just over two years ago, this high was unimaginable - Erwee was going to quit. "It had nothing to do with my stats or feeling I was never going to play for South Africa," he says. "It was a case of what was going on in my personal life, away from the cricket field that was influencing my energies and mindset." Off-field events were turning the game he loved into the job he didn't and Erwee's mental health was suffering. When his domestic side the Dolphins offered him a new contract, Erwee was busy coaching at his old school. Coaching gave him an insight into a future life that, with one phone call, could easily have become his present. Erwee knew something was wrong, but not how to fix it. Time passed, but nothing changed, until a "blessing in disguise" arrived in the form of Covid. With the world on pause, Erwee say...

S o there is a story about Sarel Erwee, and how he used to hang with the South African middle‑distance runner André Olivier when they were children. Their fathers had played Currie Cup rugby together for Natal back in the 1980s but the kids’ game was cricket. They used to play it on the strip in front of the Erwees’ garage door, and they had three house rules. One was that if you hit it over the fence it was a six, another was that if you hit it into the flower beds it was a wicket, and the last was that before you started they both had to nominate who you they were going to be and then try to play like them, too. Olivier always used to choose Allan Donald, and Erwee, well, he used to want to be Gary Kirsten. “Many times I would not be able to get him out,” Olivier Read more What kind of a child grows up wanting to bat like that? It’s unnatural. Like choosing to do long division, or helping yourself to another plate of steamed vegetables. Well, we found out all about it on the second day at Lord’s, which felt like one long lesson in the merits of GazBall. Erwee batted for four hours or so, faced 146 balls, and scored 73 runs, although he’s one of those batsmen who seems to make time go more slowly, and the interminable afternoon session, when England seemed to be flat out of ideas about how to get him out, felt as if it might have stretched on into autumn. It was a fine innings, albeit one that a lot of people at Lord’s decided was best viewed from the TV screens positione...

SOUTH Africa’s opening batter Sarel Erwee plays a stroke during the second Test against New Zealand at the Hagley Oval on Friday.—AFP CHRISTCHURCH: Rookie opener Sarel Erwee responded to a challenge levelled by his captain with a maiden century as South Africa shrugged off a nightmare first Test against New Zealand to dominate day one of the second Test on a green-tinged wicket at Hagley Oval on Friday. Having crashed to their second-worst def­eat in Tests in the series-opener, Erwee’s 108 helped South Afr­ica to 238-3 at stumps and gave it insulation against a setback late in the day when Erwee and Aiden Markram’s (42) wickets fell within the space of three balls. Temba Bavuma was 22 not out at stumps and Rassie van der Dussen 13. Proteas captain Dean Elgar threw down the challenge to his fellow batsmen when he chose to bat on winning the toss on the same ground on which the tourists were dismissed for 95 and 111 in losing the first Test loss by an innings and 276 runs. Anchored by Erwee’s 108 and an 111-run opening stand with Elgar (41), South Africa’s day one total eclipsed their two innings combined in last week’s opener at the same ground. Lefthander Erwee managed only 10 runs on debut in that match but the late-blooming 32-year-old rebounded superbly in a 221-ball knock. Elgar’s decision to bat appeared brave as Tim Southee and the New Zealand seamers found life in the pitch early. But the captain and Erwee negotiated a nervous first hour and then settled into a groo...

South Africa has valiantly held on to draw the third Test at the SCG with Australia claiming the series win 2-0. With Australia needing 14 wickets on the final day of the rain-affected Test in Sydney, the green and gold only managed to take six as several South African partnerships stunted their momentum. Usman Khawaja was awarded player of the match with his 195 not out the standout performance, while David Warner was named player of the series after his gutsy double century in Melbourne. MORE: South Africa started day five at 6-149 and after Travis Head snared the wicket of Marco Jansen to make it 7-167, it looked like the visitors would fold. But a gutsy 85-run partnership between Simon Harmer (47) and Keshav Maharaj (53) soaked up nearly 30 overs, making Australia's mission to win even harder. Australia eventually bowled South Africa out for 255 and immediately enforced the follow-on after their opposition fell 20 runs short of avoiding it. Hazlewood was the pick of Australia's bowlers with 4-48, while skipper Pat Cummins took 3-60. But with only around 40 overs left to play, South Africa dug in during the second innings to finish 2-106 and earn a draw - avoiding a 3-0 series whitewash. Cummins managed to snare the early wicket of his opposing captain Dean Elgar for 10, but the other South African opener Sarel Erwee (42) stuck around until stumps, soaking up 125 balls. Heinrich Klaasen and Temba Bavuma both managed to stick around for nearly 20 overs each to ensure Sou...

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Opening batter Sarel Erwee scored a maiden century for the Proteas in just his second Test against New Zealand at Hagley Oval in Christchurch on Friday. Erwee’s knock of 108 set the South Africans on their way in the second Test, finishing the day on 238/3, after losing badly in the first Test last week. The tourists need to win the match to square the series. But, who is Erwee? We take a look. Vital stats Erwee is 32 years old, having been born in Pietermaritzburg on 10 November 1989. He is a left-handed batter and right-arm off break bowler. He attended St Charles College and plays for the Dolphins in KZN. His middle name is Johannes. Career averages The experienced opener has a good, if not spectacular, record at all levels of the game. In 97 first class matches, he’s scored 5,941 runs at 38.57, according to Recent form Like his team-mates Erwee failed with the bat in the first Test last week at Hagley Oval. He managed scores of just 10 and 0, but in December last year, playing for South Africa A against the A team of India he showed what he is capable of against international opposition. Second Test hopes Just two days ago, ahead of the second Test, Erwee said: “We face a lot of tough conditions at home and it’s about adapting to them and making peace with the conditions. Mentally we have gone over our game-plans and processes. “We need to stick to what we did right and those things that didn’t work, we need to adapt to be better. We mustn’t overthink it, but there wer...

The 32-year-old left-handed opener, after an unimpressive showing in the opening Test where he scored just 10 and a duck as New Zealand inflicted an innings defeat on the Proteas a week ago, scored a patient 108 in the second Test at the Hagley Oval on Friday to give the visitors a solid start at 238 for three on Day 1. “It is a very special day that 24 months ago I probably didn’t think I will be in a position to even be close to a SA Test squad. To sit here today with a Test hundred behind my name is special. It is even more special having gone through the hard yards over the years and taking learnings along those years. I know the team comes first and I am very happy we can turn things around after the first Test.” “I don’t think we focus on it enough in SA, not just in cricket but all sports. I might be mistaken but from speaking to other sportsmen, it is something lacking not only in sport but general in life. As a man, it is kind of frowned upon when you show mental weakness or softness. A lot of work needs to be done and I am in that process where I am trying to better my mental wellbeing. It has been part of my life and it will probably be for a long time.”