‘To play against SA at SuperSport Park in WC would be dream ending’

At the ripe old age of 41, Roelof van der Merwe is seeking to end his eventful journey in international cricket at the SuperSport Park in Centurion, his home ground in South Africa before he shifted his allegiance to the Netherlands in 2015. Defeating the men from his country of birth in next year’s ODI World Cup would only add to the drama of his fairy tale ending in international cricket, Roelof visualises in his virtual interaction.

“We still have a few hurdles (for qualification) to jump over and hoops to jump through to get into the World Cup. We’ve got a good team and we’ve got a good set-up to actually achieve that.

“It would be an unbelievable tournament for me. If that is to be my last World Cup, to finish it maybe at Supersport Park. Maybe even against South Africa, that would be a dream ending,” said Roelof, one of the few cricketers who have represented two teams in international cricket. Provided they qualify, the Netherlands would back themselves to get the better of South Africa for the third time in an ICC event. Roelof is currently in the middle of a significant campaign in the inaugural European T20 Premier League (ETPL), Europe’s first multi-country franchise T20 league.

He is playing for Rotterdam Dockers and doing what he does best, keeping things tight with his left-arm spin. Having plied his trade in franchise leagues around world, including IPL, it is interesting that Roelof prioritises national duty at fag end of his career.