After a successful season for the Cape Cobras, fast bowler Mthokozisi Shezi wants to push for a place in the South Africa A side.
Shezi took 32 wickets for the Cobras across in the three formats in the 2014/2015-season, which included a superb six for 51 in the Sunfoil Series win against the Titans at Boland Park in Paarl.
Even though he made his South African debut against Zimbabwe in 2014 and impressed with his 1-8 in six overs in his maiden game, Shezi says he was just ‘partially satisfied’ with his performances for the Cobras in the previous season.
He wants to increase his off-the-season intensity in order to perform even better for the Cobras and, if selected, for South Africa A. These are his goals for the 2015/2016-season.
Shezi wants to link up with Charl Langeveldt, the Cobras’ bowling consultant, and Vincent Barnes, high performance manager of Cricket South Africa, to add a yard of pace to his bowling.
‘That is the reason why I want to join the national academy. I want to improve my bowling performances,’ he said.
Shezi claimed 10 wickets in the Momentum One Day Cup competition last season, including a best of 4-38.
He took eight wickets in the Ram Slam T20 Challenge, a competition in which the Cobras coasted to a convincing 33-run win in the final against the Chevrolet Knights.
Shezi said he wants to finish at the top of the bowling averages for the Cobras in the limited formats next season, and wishes to become one of the top-ten bowlers in terms of the Sunfoil Series averages.
‘I would also like to constantly produce the type of performances that will help me to force my way into the One Day International team of the Proteas,’ he said.
But in order to reach that goal, he requires a winter in which he picks up a yard of pace so that he can hurry batsmen into errors.
It was Langeveldt’s intervention that assisted him in improving his yorkers in the 2014-off-season.
Now he hopes the former South African swing bowler and consultant to the South African team during the Cricket World Cup will be his right-hand man and assistant in taking his left-arm swing bowling to the next level.
