A marula toast to the pride of Mopani

Brothers in arms. . . Dale Steyn, left, congratulates Limpopo homeboy Marchant de Lange for a job well done in his debut Test match for SA.

Marula, Mopani and cricket. Clearly no link on face value. But a more determined probe points to rising talent from two Limpopo towns from the same district – Dale Steyn and very lately Marchant de Lange, from Phalaborwa and Tzaneen respectively.

The two scenic tows are major centres in a largely rural Mopani District, in north-eastern Limpopo. The fertile region is better known for its rich agricultural yields than cricket prowess. But the two fast bowlers are about to change that, quickly.

First off the mark was Dale Steyn, who ended the year 2011 as the No. Test bowler in the world, the status which was cemented by his top classes performance against the recent series against Australia and Sri Lanka.

This is a great honour by any measure for a regional town, and Phalaborwans should be shouting from the top of all their Mopani and marula trees.

But if Steyn would have it, no outlandish celebrations would be necessary as the Proteas quickie thinks the ranking “means nothing”.

"It does nothing for you when you walk out onto the field," Steyn said.

"You've still got to go out there and bowl the ball because there's no halo over my head that says I'm number one and the batters must respect that," he told the media recently.

He has a point. After Morne Morkel and Lonwabo Tsotsobe blasted the Sri Lanka top order away with the new ball in the first ODI match in Cape Town on January 11, Steyn founds himself unsure for the new ball in the second ODI in East London on January 14. The ferocious form of Morkel in the first match in the limited belied his average showing with the ball in the Test series earlier, and was feeling the pressure.

That fact goes a long way to justify Steyn’s feeling that getting wickets is more important than basking in the glory of being the No.1 bowler, albeit in the Test version.

Now how about 21-year-old De Lange, who set the scene alight in the Durban Test – his debut – with eight wickets only to be dropped in the next match. That shows one has to work harder, even after breaking records, to stay in the team. It was disappointment all round when De Lange was dropped, but the man he had replaced, because of injury, had done nothing wrong. So Vernon Philander returned to help the Proteas beat Sri Lanka, and set SA up for series victory in the third and final match.

At least De Lange knows he is valued, through the chance he was given. And without a doubt another chance, on a more extended term, is beckoning.

All in all Mopani District should be proud for the Phalaborwa Express and the young De Lange, as the region prepares to toast life in the Marula Festival next month. The annual February festival in Phalaborwa celebrates all that’s good about the marula tree, moreover its brew (cheers to that) and other pleasures of the region.

And for that, many cheers to the region’s two finest cricket products, and more that are still to be produced in those clammy sub-tropical conditions.