Can’t keep the ‘Bulldog’ quiet: Van der Merwe grabs the catch of the world cup

You just can’t keep the ‘Bulldog’ quiet. So, the 37-year-old who loves playing cricket unalloyedly went chasing after an impossible-looking catch. Running back a fair distance to a miscued pull from David Miller from short fine leg, with the sun shimmering trickily in his eyes he would rotate his spinal axis on the move. He was almost at backward square leg on a sprint that would be disorienting for anyone, stretch out his hands in the direction the ball was dipping onto, and complete a stunning catch, to send a shell-shocked South Africa out of the tournament as Netherlands won by 13 runs.

Yet, till Miller was out there, it had seemed like South Africa would still pull through. But van der Merwe, who once played for South Africa, and then was left heartbroken trying to get back into the national team, eventually moving to the Netherlands, had other plans.

Had the cameras been focussed on the spot where van der Merwe buried the Proteas’ dreams finally, you wouldn’t see a man in the frame, or only on the periphery. But such was the stunning nature of the catch that while three fielders instinctively set off in the general direction, the cameraperson himself seemed to be too astounded that van der Merwe would actually get there, so the focus wasn’t quite with him in the camera crosshairs. He would literally streak into the frame out of nowhere – and to think he was running back, and then turning his body a full 180 – 270 degrees as the ball dipped to face in the other direction.

The hands – both hands – would stick out precisely, pouch the ball even as his uncovered eyes with no shades had the sun glaring straight into him. Had he missed, no one would have dared label it a drop. ‘Fell well short’ would’ve been the pithy move-along. Miller might well have gotten going, and the Dutch returned to their homes having tried hard. But the Bulldog – denied his destiny at the 2015 World Cup – had literally sought out a different nationality to be able to shine in a World Cup.

Pure magic from Roelof van der Merwe!

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The catch was reminiscent of Kapil Dev’s back-heeler to dismiss Viv Richards in the 1983 World Cup final. Then too, the eventual catcher is barely in the frame till his contorting body swivels and slides in with the catch held aloft. Here van der Merwe would offload it in celebratory glee with his left hand, and spring like a chicken as his adoring team mates bear hugged him. They say running back like that wrecks havoc with the calf muscles – van der Merwe was rebooting muscle memory here.

South Africa, like pieces of kryptonite stabbed into their limbs, would once again be demobilized by a familiar figure, one they had cast away as unwanted, despite him repeatedly wanting to play for them. A decade back Roelof van der Merwe was thought of as the match-winner, the finisher, who would do it all for South Africa, so prodigious was his talent. On a sombre Sunday, he helped dump them out of yet another World cup.

But this was about van der Merwe’s unstoppable love for cricket – though he deeply missed the sunshine and beaches of the country where he was born. On Sunday, with all the sun in his eyes – uncomfortably too, the mountain would move, it would pivot and swerve – the feet in kinetic motion in one direction, the arms moving in another, all at great speed. The earthquake would be felt across the ocean in the southern hemisphere. That catch though came from a young boy’s insatiable, unstoppable love for being a part of a cricket match. When fielding – the most unselfish part of the game – if he’d missed his turn batting or bowling.