Proteas batsman Reeza Hendricks has expressed his thoughts on what was a ‘roller-coaster season’ for him personally.
The right-handed batsman had a tough time with the few opportunities he got with the Proteas in the limited-overs series against England and Australia.
Quinton de Kock’s men came close to winning both the ODI and T20I series against England, but had to settle for a draw and a 2-1 series loss, respectively.
‘Being at home I have had some time to reflect and look back on the season. We obviously knew there were two good teams coming this past summer, so we’re going to have to really play well in order to beat them – which I felt we did at stages but we weren’t really consistent and therefore the results showed that,’ Hendricks said about the team’s lack of composure at stages.
Despite opening the batting in all three ODIs against England, Hendricks failed to fully capitalise by contributing only 52 runs in the three matches in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg.
He was, however, quite unfortunate in the second encounter at Kingsmead where he looked in great knick, racing to 35 not out before rain ended his innings and the whole match.
Hendricks was subsequently left out of the T20I squad to do battle with Eoin Morgan’s men but included again for the second T20I against Australia in Port Elizabeth a week later.
It would be the last match he played for the Proteas this past summer – he managed only 14 before missing out on selection again for the third and final T20I at Newlands.
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Mark Boucher then also opted for some new batting faces for the three-match ODI series against Australia, with Janneman Malan, Kyle Verreynne and Heinrich Klassen all taking full advantage of the opportunity as the Proteas won the series 3-0.
‘My season has been a roller-coaster one with lots of highs and lots of lows, and disappointments as well. I felt I did fairly well on the domestic scene where I have contributed in all formats, so I was quite happy with my performance there,’ continued Hendricks.
‘I only got a handful of opportunities [for the Proteas]; been around, didn’t play, got left out and I couldn’t understand why. Those are the sort of questions I asked myself.’
The 30-year-old Hendricks, though, continues to strive for consistency on both the domestic and international fronts after being at the heart of the Lions team that won the 4-Day Franchise Series and finished as runners-up in the Momentum One Day Cup.
‘I have had to learn how to adapt and how to keep being persistent in different situations. Sport is full of ups and downs; one day you’re the hero and next day you’re not. It is important to have a good level and to stay on that level.’
