Langeveldt delighted to turn the screw
Langeveldt: 'I'm in a lot of pain but I try not to think about it' © Getty Images You can see tomorrow's headlines already - "Former screw turns the screw"
Andrew Miller
04-Jan-2005
 |
|
"I'm in a lot of pain," admitted Langeveldt, who is receiving two
anaesthetic injections a day, one at 3am in the morning, another at 6pm
after play has finished. "But I try not to think about it. My adrenalin
was pumping and I was confident of bowling in the right areas. When the
blood's warm, it's warm!"
But the pun will only run so far because Langeveldt, understandably, does
not much fancy having any screws inserted into his hand in the event of
further injury, and has more or less ruled himself out of the remainder of
the series. "Ideally I would have liked to play," he said, "but I'm
thinking long-term, and it would be stupid to risk getting hit and being
out for probably six months. I'm seeing a specialist tomorrow, and I'll
make a decision from there."
Langeveldt, who switched to full-time cricket four years ago, has played
six one-day internationals, but had to wait a long time for his Test
debut. "You get labelled in South Africa as a one-day bowler," he
explained, "and with the likes of Allan Donald, Shaun Pollock and Makhaya
Ntini, it is difficult to get into the Test squad. But it's awesome to
take five wickets on my debut. Any cricketer would want that, and it's
happy days today."
Langeveldt burst into contention for this series with his seven-wicket
haul at Potchefstroom, where South Africa A shocked England in their
opening tour match. It was no coincidence, for he is well acquainted with
all things English. His wife is from the Isle of Wight (they met on a tour
to Barbados), while he has played several seasons in the Lancashire
League, most recently for Morecambe.
"I just try to bowl as full as possible, and swing it," he explained. "It
did more late in the innings, and there was hardly any wind as well which
helped. It was the same in Potch, because [the English] like to get bat on
ball, and with the extra bounce the ball carried to the slips and keeper."
A simple philosophy, but it has left England deep in the porridge.
Andrew Miller is assistant editor of Cricinfo. He will be following England on their tour of South Africa