@IOLsport
George Linde is a self-confessed cricket nerd.
He watches everything from Border-Gavaskar Trophy to Abu Dhabi T10. If there’s any form of cricket on television anywhere in the world, the MI Cape Town allrounder will be glued to it.
And when the cricket finally gets turned off, he switches to the horror shows of Manchester United Football Club.
“I watch a lot of cricket. Maybe even too much cricket,” Linde exclusively told Independent Media Sport at the MI Cape Town Cricket Carnival at Camps Bay this week.
“First thing in the morning I check to see if there’s cricket on. If there is, then I watch it.
“There is only sports at my house. Late at night it’s only football. And yes … I support Manchester United.”
This cricket-crazed obsession has in the past enveloped Linde. It would creep into this personal game too, leading to over analysis, and him fretting the “small things”. One indifferent performance could severely affect his confidence.
The sense of responsibility Linde feels to his team, the pursuit of his own ambition and the craving to achieve his goals took a heavy toll. Even more so due to Linde not always having had the rub of the green when it comes to selection, particularly internationally with the Proteas.
This was most pertinent during the build-up to the 2021 World Cup in the UAE. Despite playing the majority of the matches - and performing admirably claiming 15 wickets at 22.66 - Linde was omitted from the 15-man squad for the desert safari.
The timing could not have been worse for Linde was still playing in the on-going series in Sri Lanka.
Introverted by nature, and someone who despises confrontation, Linde needed an escape tunnel. He found it in the serene English countryside of Kent, where he played in the County Championship and T20 Blast for the next couple of seasons.
Linde’s priorities also changed. He withdrew from the Proteas’ tour to New Zealand in February 2022 to wed his long-time fiance’ and they have since had a baby boy.
With the help of the Western Province backroom staff and some intensive rehabilitation programmes including CrossFit training and hiking up Table Mountain has also seen Linde regain full fitness after a serious knee operation last year.
The results across formats have been remarkable. He averages 63.16, which includes a career-best 152, in red-ball cricket this summer.
And he blasted 171 runs at an impressive strike rate of 178.12, while claiming nine wickets at an economy rate of 6.73 for Western Province in the CSA T20 Challenge.
With the Proteas’ white-ball coaching regime having changed in the intervening period from Mark Boucher to Rob Walter too, the curtain on Linde’s international exile was finally drawn when he received a call-up for the Pakistan T20I series late last year.
Not even Hans Christian Andersen could script Linde’s fairytale comeback of 48 from 24 balls and 4/21 in the first T20I at Kingsmead.
It may not entirely erase the pain of 2021, but it certainly quietened the ‘haters’.
“I think for me what’s worked is I took a bit of a break from the game,” Linde said.
“For me, the thing is now whatever happens must happen. I am playing for my family and everyone that supports me. And the haters!”
MI Cape Town have certainly benefited from having a reinvigorated Linde as part of their SA20 squad this season. The lanky left-hander has already proved to be major asset with the willow, striking two cameos of 23 not out and 48 not out against Sunrisers Eastern Cape and Joburg Super Kings, while he also delivered a match-winning performance of 3/15 with the ball against the Paarl Royals at Newlands.
Proud to be the sole true-blue Capetonian in the MICT squad, Linde feels playing with the likes of captain and Afghanistan superstar Rashid Khan has added a competitive edge to his game that may have been lacking.
“I played with him in Season 1. Great just to see how he operates and how confident he is,” Linde said of Rashid.
“I see now and then he throws in a chirp at the batters, which I think I can bring into my game.
“But I’m not a mystery spinner. They know what I am going to do (laughs).
“But it is something I can get into my game. It’s obviously quite cool playing with him. And maybe when I am done playing cricket I’ll sit back and say ‘Did I really play with him!’”
After a couple of disappointing SA20 seasons, Linde and MI Cape Town seem to have a fresh vigour about them and are eager to push all the way towards the playoffs this season.
They will first have to overcome an in-form Joburg Super Kings at Newlands on Saturday evening, but Linde feels the tides are changing down in Cape Town.
“You can feel the energy in the team. It is a nice environment and everyone backs each other. A lot of the local players are getting good opportunities,” he said.
“In our XI, there were only two local guys who have not played for the Proteas. And Connor (Esterhuizen) and Delano (Potgieter) are real talents that could play for the Proteas.
“We have a lot of experience in our squad. Hopefully we can reverse the table from the last two years. We obviously want to win the final.”