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Sports

Swapping Dale Steyn for Roger Federer, how Nandre Burger became South Africa cricket’s ‘next big thing’

Neil Levenson couldn’t contain his excitement. The year was 2014 and the cricket coach at the University of the Witwatersrand (WITS) in Johannesburg thought he’d just seen the future of South Africa’s pace bowling. He recognised that there was still a lot to work on – technical stuff such as the alignment from the landing foot to the release point – but all of that didn’t matter. The coach had seen enough – in one nets session – to be firm in his belief. And so, he made it known to the boy himself. “You could play professional cricket and bowl at 140kph.” There was however one tiny matter of concern.Nandre Burger didn’t want to become a professional cricketer. The sport for him had been more of a pastime at WITS, while he pursued a degree in sports psychology. Playing what little club c...