Roelof van der Merwe: the man who was there, until he wasn't

Roelof van der Merwe was there. At Trent Bridge in June 2009, at Centurion in September the same year, and in St Lucia 11 months after that. He was also in Adelaide on November 6 last year.

He was part of the South Africa team who failed to reel in Pakistan's middling 149/4 in their 2009 World T20 semi-final. And the XI that, despite Graeme Smith's 141, were kicked out of the 2009 Champions Trophy at home by England. And when Pakistan's 148/7 was enough to send the South Africans packing after the group stage of the 2010 World T20.

Most recently - probably still too recent and raw for many from the country of his birth - he was there when the Netherlands' leaping minnows inflicted South Africa's most devastating defeat yet to eliminate them from the running for the semi-finals of last year's T20 World Cup. This time, Van der Merwe was on the kinder end of the equation.

He wasn't required to bat and he bowled only two overs, but he took the catch of the tournament - spinning around at short fine leg to hare metres into the deep and diving to pluck, from over his shoulder, the steeply descending ball out of the last few millimetres of the sky before it would have bounced.

He tossed his prize backhanded into the blue from whence it had come, let loose a mighty roar, and leaned back to balling both fists and balloon his biceps in triumph. As well he might have. He had helped remove David Miller and reduce South Africa, who were in search of 159, to 112/5 in the 16th over. Van der Merwe's catch confirmed the South Africans were, not for the first time, deep in a nosedive of no return.

The Dutch greeted their win as if they had clinched the final. Maybe that's what it felt like for a side that had to qualify in the first round and ended the tournament by prevailing over two ICC full members in Zimbabwe and South Africa.

How did Van der Merwe feel about being instrumental in casting ignominy onto a team representing the country where he had spent the first 32 of his 38 years? "It wasn't my fault we were playing against South Africa... I'm going to say it was bittersweet," he told Cricbuzz. "But as a professional, you've got to just get on with it. You're playing for a team and there's another 10 guys on the field who want to do the same as you. You can't let other things get in the way.

"But another side of it is that I've been in that situation with South Africa before. I know what it feels like. It's shattering. I felt for the boys, but we played a good game of cricket that day. There are a lot of times when associate nations play against strong full members that you need a lot of luck, when the ball's got to bounce your way so many times. On that day, from the start, we outplayed them."

As that shows, Van der Merwe doesn't do the ifs and buts of nuance and uncertainty. He knows an emphatic win when he sees one. And a choke. Just like he knows when he is part of a good thing. Something like the SA20.

"It was exciting to come out to South Africa and play again, but when I saw the crowds - especially at St George's Park - I was, like, 'Wow! OK! They've done it right!' It's been amazing. The support around the tournament has been great, a breath of fresh air. I've played a few games at St George's when there's nobody. To go there now is awesome."

South Africa's oldest Test ground would have been graced by a proper crowd when Van der Merwe played in a dead rubber ODI against Australia in April 2009, his only international there to date. But there would have been far fewer around for his seven list A games, and even fewer for his four first-class matches, at St George's Park.

The SA20 has repainted that picture. A total of 39,646 spectators attended the five games in the tournament played in Gqeberha last month. That's fewer than the 41,126 who saw Perth Scorchers beat Sydney Sixers in a single BBL match on Saturday. But Perth Stadium can accommodate 60,000 - more than four-and-a-half times as many as St George's Park's current capacity of 13,171. Add the atmosphere created by the brass band and Eastern Capers' natural welcoming warmth, and the crowds of between 3,674 and 11,909 - an average of 7,930 - who turned out for Sunrisers Eastern Cape's home matches punched well above their weight in numbers.

Exponentially more fans have been in the stands at all six SA20 venues than for domestic matches, and more even than for some of South Africa's games. It isn't difficult to understand why. In other markets, foreign-owned franchises created in the image of teams that have no history in the country would struggle for public acceptance. In the economically, systemically and societally failing state of South Africa, a tournament that is not infected by the toxicity of the rest of cricket is bound to be an attractive proposition. Its un-South Africanness is a major selling point.

"You want your sport to be supported," Van der Merwe said. "You want the backing of the public. You want to play in front of full houses. Hopefully, this brings the thirst back to people wanting to go to stadiums again and enjoy the game. It's definitely a step in the right direction."

The tournament features six of the top 20-ranked T20 batters in the world and seven of the leading 20 bowlers. That means the standard is higher than most of what South Africans are usually offered. The competition looks and feels like a significant entity on the global T20 leagues circuit.

Van der Merwe concurred: "You've got some big names from all over, so that's always going to push the quality up. That's important for the knock-on effect of people coming out and supporting. The tournament was also hyped up a lot. It was everywhere you looked; they've really put effort into the marketing. The organisation around it has been great. It's up there with the best in the world."

Van der Merwe should know, having played in eight editions of the T20 Blast, five IPLs, both campaigns of The Hundred, and one each of the BBL and the CPL. Considering 11 of the 20 teams who played ODIs last year, and 24 of the 88 who appeared in T20Is, featured in more games than the Dutch in 2022, the more respected franchise leagues are important avenues, in earnings and recognition terms, for players from ICC associate countries.

There were also benefits to be gained by those national teams from their players' involvement at the franchise level: "The leagues will help them get more exposure and build up experience playing in bigger games in front of bigger crowds. You get better players, which helps our national team to perform better in the long term."

He should save some of the credit for all this positivity for himself. After 22 games in the SA20, Van der Merwe was the leading bowler. He was the top wicket-taker with 14, his strike rate of 9.8 was the best among bowlers who have sent down at least 20 overs in the tournament, and only Kyle Mayers had a better economy rate than his 4.73. Jos Buttler, Heinrich Klaasen, Quinton de Kock and David Miller were all among his victims.

Van der Merwe has thus helped make the tournament a resounding success, and not only through his performances. Players who look like they could excel without doing much more than getting out of bed are rarely electrifying to watch. Elegance can facilitate success, but it isn't often compelling. Happily, cricket also has room for feisty, thoroughly human scrappers like Van der Merwe, who brings a high level of intensity to everything he does on the field. That's no accident: "It's something I've learnt to do to compete with the best in the world. I don't think I'm overly talented, and playing that way really helps me to be successful to a certain degree."

Unlike Kevin Pietersen, who wasn't the forceful player he became until after he left South Africa, Van der Merwe's compatriots knew what they were losing when he secured an EU passport - thanks to his Dutch mother - in 2015. Having played 13 games for South Africa in each white-ball format, he was on the verge of his second international career.

Van der Merwe has been contracted to Somerset since the 2016 county season - he and his family live in Taunton - and he was back in South Africa in November and December 2019 to play in the second and last edition of the MSL. Then, as now, he was officially a foreigner, which didn't sit well: "It feels funny: Roelof van der Merwe as an overseas player in a South African comp. I never thought it would happen."

But he must feel relieved to have left South Africa and its litany of problems behind. The SA20, for instance, has maintained its playing schedule only because all the grounds have been supplied with massive generators to overcome the country's rolling power blackouts. "I don't look at it like that," Van der Merwe said. "Cricket in South Africa and South Africa itself is still a massive part of me. When the boys do well I'm still happy for them, and I hurt when it's not going well. It will always be part of what I am."

And doubtless part of other players born, raised, schooled and coached in South Africa but who now wear other national colours. Four of them were in the Dutch side who beat Temba Bavuma's team in Adelaide in November. Was that result vindication for leaving or payback for the perception of being overlooked in South Africa?

"I didn't have the feeling that I was doing a great thing by leaving," Van der Merwe said. "Leaving was quite tough for me. I was born and bred here and I love South Africa, but at that stage I thought it was the best thing for myself and for my family."

But he is pleased to have escaped the English winter for a few weeks, even though the SA20's crammed programme doesn't allow for much downtime. Our conversation happened on Friday, during an eight-day lull to allow South Africa to field full-strength teams in their ODI series against England. What had he done with his time off? "Played golf and, uh, played some more golf." Handicap? "Fourteen, and I'm still able to earn money off that." Would he keep an eye on that day's ODI in Bloemfontein, a day/nighter? "I'll be watching, after I've played golf."

Who would he support? A pause, perhaps in astonishment at a stupid question: he couldn't very well shout for England. Or maybe there was a pang of something else. Then he answered: "South Africa." For a moment Roelof van der Merwe was there again.