Duncan Fletcher had retired from playing and was starting out as a coach at the University of Cape Town (UCT) when he first came across a young student called Gary Kirsten. Initially, Fletcher saw little more than a mischievous “loveable rogue” who liked a drink, could bowl some handy off spin and bat a bit. Not much more than a bit, though, given that Kirsten was struggling to get a game, coming in for the university at No 9. That erstwhile lower-order batsman eventually played more than a hundred Tests for South Africa as an opener, scoring 21 Test centuries — the mark of a superlative player. It was Fletcher who eventually suggested that Kirsten should open the batting at UCT because, as he later recalled,…

Source: The Times October 02, 2019 16:07 UTC