Lutho Sipamla – From Replacement to Spearhead

There was a moment prior to the start of Season 3 when all the Proteas involved in Betway SA20 were called into a room for a short briefing at Centurion after a T20 International against India.

Mistakenly, the message had been passed on to fast bowler Lutho Sipamla, who at the time had missed out on being picked at the auction and had not found a home in the League.

Upon realising the briefing was only for Betway SA20 participants, Sipamla promptly excused himself by saying: “I am not playing SA20”.

But such is life in the Betway SA20 fast lane that two months down the road, Sipamla is now the spearhead of the Joburg Super Kings attack and charging in at the Wanderers armed with a new white Kookaburra.

It certainly has been an eventful journey for the 26-year-old, who was drafted into the Super Kings squad as a replacement after fellow Proteas seam bowlers Lizaad Williams and Nandre Burger were ruled out of the competition due to injury. The duo were closely followed by Gerald Coetzee and Beuran Hendricks, which left Sipamla with the ultimate responsibility.

The learning curve has been steep with Sipamla experiencing a wide range of emotions in back-to-back matches against the Sunrisers Eastern Cape.

The first encounter at St George’s Park saw Sipamla uproot England Test opener Zak Crawley’s stumps with the very first ball of the innings. Unfortunately, it was a no ball, before being creamed through the covers with his first legal delivery.

It takes someone with a strong mental capacity and solid support system to bounce back from such a harrowing experience.

Fortunately, Sipamla has both in abundance, as he responded by dismissing Crawley first-ball again just 48 hours later in an explosive double-wicket maiden opening over at the Wanderers on Sunday.

Sipamla finished with the superb figures of 3/13 to set JSK on the path to a crucial bonus point victory.

“I wasn’t hitting panic stations at all about the no-ball thing,” Sipamla said. “You try to focus on the present and focus on each ball. What’s happened has happened and you need to just try to rectify it. Luckily, I had the coach, I had my teammates around me to just reassure me that it’s not really a big thing.

“Looking at it from the outside, you might think it’s chaotic but the nice thing is the coaches have stayed calm. They are clear about what they want to get through to us individually and holistically as a bowling unit.

“I guess it’s a process again in terms of hopping on the disciplines, staying disciplined when you’re practising, staying disciplined when you’re warming up, making sure your foot’s behind the line.

“The plan was to just try to keep it as simple as possible for as long as possible. Firstly, assess the conditions after the first ball and see what that is. After the first ball, I was like, cool, we’re going as simple as possible.”

Sipamla will be hoping to take this renewed confidence into another crucial encounter this evening when JSK face Pretoria Capitals in the Jukskei derby at Centurion. A victory for both teams is crucial in the race for a playoff spot.

But once again instead of being daunted by the occasion, Sipamla simply wants to focus on his own game and plans with the assistance of captain Faf du Plessis.

“I’m just trying to stick to a process. I’m just trying to stick to a process that I’m trying to follow every single game,” Sipamla said.

“Where that comes off in terms of outcomes, I’m not really too bothered by that. I’m just trying to be as consistent as I can with my process, ball by ball.

“It’s been working very nicely with Faf. I’m really enjoying it. ​ I’m really enjoying the way he’s leading. It’s quite nice.

“I think we’re just bouncing off ideas from one another, trying to understand where the batsman is, what the batsman’s mindset is, especially him being a batsman, a top-order batsman.

“So I think he uses a lot of that knowledge to just come and keep feeding me and letting me know in terms of what state of mind the batsman is.”