The Surfer

Watson's chilling moment with destiny

Ryan Watson, Scotland's stand-in captain, is best known as Graeme Smith's former captain while in school in South Africa

Ryan Watson, Scotland's stand-in captain, is best known as Graeme Smith's former captain while in school in South Africa. But it was one defining moment which forced him to rethink his future in the country and settle down elsewhere, one which was literally a matter of life and death.
As a 23-year old, Watson was held at gunpoint by robbers at home in - you guessed it - Johannesburg, where he was pushed into a closet, after which the thieves robbed his car. Watson recounts those chilling moments in The Scotsman.
The incident put me off a little bit, and I also didn't get a contract [in provincial cricket] that year and there were some other problems. I might go back some day, but I just live on the mentality 'see what happens'.

Kanishkaa Balachandran is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo