Player-of-the-Match performances have been dedicated to loved ones, to communities, to retiring team-mates and to current ones but South Africa allrounder Chloe Tryon may be the first women’s player who has attributed her success to a male counterpart who plays for the same country.
“Kesh[av] Maharaj has been with us and he said before the game that he thinks one of our spinners will be Player of the Match, so I am happy I could do it for him,” Tryon, who took 3 for 22 in the second T20I against India, told the post-match broadcast.
But Tryon wasn’t just playing for someone who bowls the same discipline – left-arm spin – as her. Maharaj, who has free time with the men’s national side on a winter break, has been roped in to join the women’s backroom staff, with a particular focus on the first two games. Both were played in Durban, Maharaj’s hometown and the place where he has played the bulk of his domestic cricket. His knowledge of Kingsmead’s changing conditions, his ranking as the world No. 3 bowler in ODIs, and his recent experience captaining South Africa in New Zealand were all good reasons to include him, and by all accounts the team has enjoyed his involvement.
“It’s been awesome to work with him,” Sune Luus, the all-rounder who bowls offspin, said at the post-match press conference. “Sometimes a coach can be repetitive, and think he knows everything, but coming from a number one [sic] bowler in the world, we just absorbed everything he was saying the last couple of days. It was phenomenal to have him in the camp, just his experience as well.”
Maharaj has long had an influence on South Africa’s specialist left-arm spinner Nonkululeko Mlaba, who told ESPNcricinfo during the 2024 T20 World Cup that she learnt from his work ethic. Maharaj and Mlaba were named the men’s and women’s players of the year respectively at last year’s Cricket South Africa awards thanks largely to their performances in their respective T20 World Cups two year’s ago, and have celebrated each other’s successes. While Mlaba naturally gets more turn than Maharaj and has been one of South Africa’s most reliable wicket-takers, she has concentrated in this series on her ability to control the run rate, much like Maharaj does. From two matches, she is South Africa’s most economical bowler and has given away only 47 runs in eight overs at 5.87.
Equally, Maharaj has had an influence on Tryon, who took the first three India wickets, two of them in the powerplay, and sparked a massive collapse. She had Smriti Mandhana caught on the boundary slog-sweeping a ball from just outside off stump. The lack of room may have prevented Mandhana from generating enough power. Jemimah Rodrigues was also caught sweeping, a good-length ball that was directed at the pads. And Anushka Sharma, on debut, was also cramped for room as she hit Tryon to cow corner. Tryon’s stump-to-stump lines and mostly full lengths are Maharaj signatures, and though she didn’t elaborate on what he has worked on with her, she mentioned a few “technical,” things that had allowed her to tighten up.
The women’s team last played a T20I in Durban five years ago, and have only played three ODIs there since, so Maharaj also offered insight into conditions late in the season. “He’s our inside man, and a Durban boy, so he knew the conditions very well. I think that definitely worked in our favour,” Luus said. “The pitch has not been playing like a normal Durban slow pitch. It was a belter in the first game and we thought it was going to be a bit slower today, but it still played very well. They’ve prepared good wickets for us.”
India, who have batted first in both matches, were held to 157 for 7 in match one and bowled out for 147 in match two. The ease with which South Africa chased down their target on Sunday spoke to Luus’ point about the nature of the surface, which the opposition could have misread. The slowness could still come with the Wanderers, where the next two games will be played. The pitch there appeared particularly sluggish when it was last used in the men’s domestic one-day cup final. The Lions laboured to 248 for 9, and the Titans chased it down with one ball remaining of their 50 overs.
With autumn conditions well set on the Highveld, Luus is hoping for more inside intel. “Hopefully, we can get a Jo’burg boy in Jo’burg,” she said. “I don’t know what Mandla’s [Mashimbyi, the head coach] plan is, but whoever is there, if they can come into the camp with a different perspective and a different voice as well, that will be great.”
There are plenty of options available to Mashimbyi, ranging from recent international retiree Rassie van der Dussen to Lions left-arm spinner Bjorn Fortuin. ESPNcricinfo understands Maharaj has had such a strong influence that he is likely to remain with the women’s squad for the rest of the series. And if he’s free in June around the time of the T20 World Cup… who knows?
