Skilled in Soweto

As the Australian players guided children through skills drills in Soweto, a tall, authoritative figure hovered on the fringes and kept an eye on the action. He looked so much like the actor James Earl Jones that when I introduced myself I expected him to tell me in a deep, sinister voice that he was my father. Instead he told me that he was Hoosain Ayob.

He's not a household name in cricket circles but he probably should have been. A first-class player who had the misfortune to thrive in their isolation years, Ayob was in 2000 voted as one of the top six South African fast bowlers of the century, alongside the likes of Allan Donald.

Rather than feeling any resentment for having been denied an international career, Ayob has spent his post-playing years working tirelessly to develop the game at grassroots level. He spent a decade as the ICC's director of development for Africa, spreading the sport from Malawi to Libya, and now is a development co-ordinator in Gauteng.

He works in the Soweto district, one of the poorest regions in South Africa, where one of the big challenges is keeping talented children in the game. Somewhere in the area could be a Test star of the future but the difficulty is getting the brightest prospects into the academies.

"What we have found with our children is the transport problem that they face," Ayob said. "Some of them can't manage. Gauteng has organised transport but for the kids on their own to make that trip is very difficult. We have academies but there's a limited number. You need more of the kids otherwise you lose them."

At least the children are playing cricket in the first place. When Ayob began pushing cricket in Soweto in 1981, it was an uphill battle. Only in recent years has it become easier to attract grassroots interest.

"Role models like Makhaya Ntini and now JP Duminy give the children the opportunity to feel like they could also make it," Ayob said. "Years back parents never worried about watching the game on television. Now it's common around the grounds you see a lot of black faces."

There were plenty at the Bramfischerville Oval during the Australian players' visit. Ayob's job might be far from done but as he passed an analytical eye over the talented Sowetan youths learning from Ricky Ponting's men, clearly thrilled with the game's progress.

"Once there was no cricket in this area," he said. "Now more and more people are turning to cricket."