Themen über das Spiel! » ling settles the matter and clears any hurdl

Before Keshav Maharaj had turned three, Kiran More looked at his palms and predicted: This child will be a cricketer.More was not angling for a career as a clairvoyant, but as a former gloveman and with the knowledge that Keshavs father, Athmanand, was also a wicketkeeper, he must have seen something. As it turned out, it was not the palms that held Keshavs future, but his fingers. Two decades later, Keshav has made a career as a left-arm spinner to fulfill Mores prophecy and his fathers dream.Athmanand played for Natal B during the bad old days when sport was segregated. He knew someone of his skin colour would not be able to challenge for higher honours but immersed himself in the sport anyway.It was difficult for us, but despite the challenges we faced, we managed to produce some outstanding players. We enjoyed the game and we played it hard, Athmanand told ESPNcricinfo. It was a big part of our lives.So big that it consumed Athmanands young son. When Keshav wasnt receiving throwdowns, he was rubbing shoulders with the whos who of the cricket world when South Africa were being welcomed back to the international community. Players like Sachin Tendulkar, Mohammad Azharuddin and Pravin Amre.In 1992, when India travelled to South Africa for the Friendship tour, Athmanand was among the many friends the players made. Back then, it was commonplace for members of the Indian community to host the visiting team for meals, and the Maharaj home was one that the players visited.More became a family friend and remains in touch. He was the first person to give Athmanand the confidence to believe that a cricket career was possible, albeit not for him.With his playing days behind him, Athmanand worked in education, enjoyed a stint as deputy director general of sport in the Kwa-Zulu Natal Province and completed cricket coaching courses, all the while giving his son lessons in the game. Keshav played in the backyard, in the Bakers Mini-Cricket progamme (a developmental sports programme for primary school kids), and at school. He was a left-arm seamer and a decent batsman.One day in the nets, Keshav was mad about something and decided to bowl spin. He told the Sunday Independent that nobody stopped him from making the switch and the new bowling style simply stuck. No one was happier than Athmanand .From my experience as a wicketkeeper, I had learned a lot about spin, so I tried to mould him that way.Keshavs twirling earned him places in a team two age groups above his level and made him a star at Northwood School, the alma mater of Shaun Pollock. By the time he was 18, he had become a regular in the school XI.His father remained his most loyal supporter. I followed him everywhere and kept a scorebook with his performances. I still have it at home, Athmanand said.In 2008, despite making it to the provincial Under-19 side, Keshav was not picked in South Africas U-19 World Cup squad. He confessed to City Press that he was probably a little on the large side, which may have counted against him.Still, he progressed. He was chosen for the South African academy, given a rookie contract at the Dolphins and was on the fringes of the franchise side. Athmanand allowed his son all the time he needed to see if he could carve a career in cricket because he saw in Keshav someone with a good head on his shoulders, who is very focused and very determined in everything he does. He knows exactly what he wants and I told him I would support him in that.But he also advised Keshav to have a plan B. Keshav took up a marketing degree part-time but he honed his plan A. He went to play in the Sussex Premier League in 2013, an adventure that took him away from home comforts and his mothers kitchen.I turned my life around. I lost weight and worked on my fitness, Keshav said.When Keshav returned, Dolphins team-mate Imraan Khan remembers that he looked like a completely different person, with a more diligent attitude towards eating. Cooking became a passion for him. He started a food blog and has been part of cooking shows on the local radio station East Coast Radio .Hes a pretty good cook, Athmanand said. The leaner Keshav enjoyed vastly improved results. In the 2014-15 season, he was sixth on the first-class wicket charts with 36 at 29.38. Last season he was seventh with the same number of wickets at 32.Even though there was a slew of spinners on the South African radar - Imran Tahir, Robin Peterson, Dane Piedt, Simon Harmer and Aaron Phangiso - Athmanand felt Keshav was doing too well to be ignored.There were times when we thought he would get a shot, but with team balance and that kind of thing, we always said that if it came, that would be good and if not, he would just keep doing his thing, because eventually he would get there. Statistics play a very important role.In the first match of this summers first-class season, Athmanand was proved right. Sort of. Keshav got a career-best haul of 13 for 157 to bowl Dolphins to an innings victory over Warriors in East London. But his place in the Test squad had been decided after he took his first wicket in the game.After the second days play, with Warriors on 104 for 1 in reply to Dolphins 478, in which Keshav had contributed a 71-ball 72, he got a phone call.It was Linda Zondi [the convener of the national selection panel], and he just told Keshav, Well batted, and then said that he needs his passport, Ahtmanand said. I told him it might mean he was selected but that he mustnt jump to any conclusions.Over the next two days, Keshav ran through the Warriors line-up, taking six more wickets in the first innings and six more in the follow-on. Then he found out he was going to Australia.He was surprised, but it is also a very well-deserved call-up, said Imraan. Over the last few seasons what he has really worked on is consistency in length and thats what he is so good at. When we have needed a spinner to stop the game, he has done exactly that, but at the same time he has remained an attacking bowler and has always picked up wickets.South Africa are searching for exactly that kind of spinner, especially in a series where they expect the quicks to dominate. Whether that will give Keshav the edge over Tabraiz Shamsi, a left-arm chinaman and the only other spinner in the squad, remains to be seen.Keshavs family members are unlikely to travel to Australia to watch the series because of the time it will take to get their visas and Athmanand is busy getting Keshavs new flat ready for occupation. But regardless of whether he gets the opportunity to watch his son walk out in South Africa colours, Athmanand is ecstatic.It will be fantastic if he gets his first cap, but even if he doesnt on this tour, he has made us all very proud. We know his journey begins now. Cleveland Indians Jerseys . 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DES MOINES, Iowa -- The Iowa Supreme Court seems to agree with Kevin Costner that theres no better place to play baseball than on fields cut out of the corn.The court on Friday cleared the way for a 24-field baseball complex at the Field of Dreams movie site in Dyersville, upholding a lower courts decision that the City Council properly rezoned the property from agricultural to commercial.The ruling came on an appeal by some Dyersville residents who sought to block the development of the All-Star Ballpark Heaven youth baseball and softball complex, fearing the complex would cause disruptions to surrounding farm operations and traffic, among other things.The complex is to be centered on the site were Field of Dreams, starring Costner, was shot. The movie was released in 1989 and has been embraced by people from throughout the country, who connected with its story of a farmer who carved a baseball field out of his corn crop. Thousands of people make the drive down to the small town about 140 miles northeast of Des Moines to run the bases at the baseball diamond and walk out to the cornfields that border the outfield.ddddddddddddAn attorney for the residents, Susan Hess, had argued for the courts to overturn the rezoning, saying members of the City Council werent impartial and acted in a quasi-judicial manner rather than legislative in approving the rezoning.The Iowa Supreme Court relied on its rulings in previous cases to side with the City Council, saying the councils rezoning decision did not weigh the legal rights of one party versus the other.The council weighed all of the information, reports, and comments available to it in order to determine whether rezoning was in the best interest of the city as a whole, Justice Bruce Zager wrote.An attorney for the city, Doug Henry, said the Iowa Supreme Court ruling settles the matter and clears any hurdles to building the baseball complex.Hess did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment. 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