Where have you ever heard of a sports organisation dropping fitness benchmarks?
Well, Cricket South Africa (CSA) has recently done that when it comes to the Proteas, for both the men’s and women’s teams.
Look, cricketers haven’t always been specimens. I can think back to a guy like Pat Symcox, who smaaked a dop and reached his top speed in his run-up to bowl a paar offspinners.
And then there was the KFC-sponsored era when Jacques Kallis and Graeme Smith looked like a pair of Kentucky “allrounders”.
But this year, dinge got pretty heavy when Proteas women’s captain Dane van Niekerk was axed from the World Cup squad for failing to run 2km in nine and a half minutes.
She decided to quit the Proteas and so did Lizelle Lee after she was deemed “overweight”.
While the women’s time trial and men’s eight-and-a-half-minute mark will stay the same, coaches will now still be able to call on players even if they don’t meet the standard.
Which brings me to burly ace bowler Sisanda Magala.
Picked for the upcoming limited-overs series against Australia, Magala has 12 wickets in four ODIs this year, which makes him South Africa’s deadliest bowler at the cost of 16.83.
That’s not bad for a bra who looks like hy’t nog nooit ‘n bord terug gestuur nie.
And coach Rob Walter, who started his rise to the top of the Proteas ladder a lowly fitness trainer, says it doesn’t help putting mense like Magala on strict diets and dropping them like a heavy weight.
Asked about the new fitness policy earlier this week, he says: “From my point of view, it really is the oldest cliche in the book about following the process.
“For me, it’s a process to get guys fitter and up to standard. And in the team the obsession is to get better.
“And I expect everyone in the team to get better and it’s our job as staff to support them in those endeavours.
“So Sisanda has been electric on the park for us in the recent period. And we want to acknowledge that, but also for everyone in the squad to get better and to get fitter.”
So there it is. Roll on the Aussies and the World Cup from October.