CENTURION: Around eight years ago, just after a then young Tony de Zorzi was given the honour of leading an age-group Protea outfit to the World Cup, the southpaw's stocks collapsed like a house of cards. Touted for the top-most echelon of the game from a young age, the teen (the school he went to in Johannesburg, King Edwards VII, counts Graeme Smith and Quinton de Kock among its alma mater) didn't have the greatest time of it at the World Cup.
He had to start from scratch, one of the hardest things to do in elite sport as you have to unlearn and relearn the entire grammar of the game. So he put himself through the grind, taking the scenic route to the top.
Luckily for him, there was a believer. Former New Zealand cricketer, Kruger van Wyk, a coach at University of Pretoria. At a time when De Zorzi was at a low point in his life, Van Wyk appointed De Zorzi as the captain. "TuksCricket," a news item from the University reads, "coaches seemingly have fine tuned the art of getting young cricketers to become players who can influence the outcome of any game."
It states further: "Two things matter to the coaches — student-athletes completing their studies and secondly, it is to get players to play to fulfil their true potential."
De Zorzi, 27, has taken his time but he's now there, playing at the level he was earmarked for. In front of a packed crowd under the lights at Supersport Park in Centurion, he reduced the second qualifier between Sunrisers Eastern Cape (SEC) and Paarl Royals to a footnote.
Chasing 176 to earn the right to face MI Cape Town in the final of the third edition of the SA20, De Zorzi was full of gumption and enterprise during his 49-ball 78. Even if he missed the chance to rubber-stamp his class with a ton, when he got out, all tension and jeopardy had been removed from the contest.
In what was the SA20s 100th match, PR may have been forgiven for thinking they had put up a challenging total to challenge SEC's hegemony of the tournament — the defending champions are one win away from a three-peat, an extremely rare thing for a side in an environment as fickle as a month-long T20 league.
The ask had become harder as soon as the team in Orange lost David Bedingham in the fourth over. But De Zorzi, who has established himself in the national team set-up in the longer formats, was already finding his range. He had got the chase underway with a trio of boundaries off the in-form Bjorn Fortuin in the third over. He followed up that with a six off Mujeeb Ur Rahman to close out the powerplay.
With Jordan Hermann happy to play second fiddle, De Zorzi, who frequently credits his mother Natasha (single parent) for any and every run he makes, gradually began to leave his batting imprint on the game. With the required run rate creeping above nine, he backed away and cut Dayyaan Galiem for a statement four through point, an extremely profitable area for him on the night. When he wasn't cutting pacers through the off-side, he was hitting spinners on the leg-side.
Paarl Royals, who have used spinners as wicket-takers throughout the campaign, couldn't replicate their success as the left-hander dealt with them. Another Mujeeb over saw him bring out the slog sweep for a maximum. It's an area he loves to access as Indian fans would know given the way he played India's spinners in the three match ODI series in 2023 (he made scores of 28, 119 n.o and 81).
He did get out to the spin of Fortuin but only after the game was pocketed safely.
Brief scores: Paarl Royals 175/5 in 20 ovs (R Hermann 81, Pretorius 59) lost to Sunrisers Eastern Cape 177/2 in 19.2 ovs (De Zorzi 78, J Hermann 69 n.o).