Kelly Smuts hopes his surprising – yet visionary – switch to the South Western Districts can rekindle his ambitions of returning to franchise cricket, particularly through his all-rounder abilities, writes Marc Jacobson.

Smuts, younger brother of Protea and Warriors stalwart Jon-Jon, had been a solid servant for the Port Elizabeth-based Eastern Province side since he started playing semi-professional cricket back in 2009.

When EP recently released the names of their contracted players ahead of the 2020/21 season, Smuts’ name was a glaring omission.

“I was offered a contract with EP. They didn’t get rid of me,” Smuts quipped when speaking to Cricket Fanatics Magazine.

Instead of having been overlooked by the authorities that be, the 30-year-old resolved that the shift to his former coastal rivals would better nourish his career moving forward.

“I made the move so that I can get back into it,” he added. “I was told at the Warriors that my opportunities were going to be very limited.

“It was nothing against EP, they wanted me and I loved my time with them. The team is in a really good space as well, but just for me personally, I felt like I needed to make the move if I wanted to get back into franchise cricket.”

After having secured a Warriors contract several years ago, Smuts had thereafter played a consistent role within the EP set-up, without regularly cracking the nod of the franchise again.

“I’ve been trying to work my way back to that again and for the last four or five seasons I’ve been doing really well for EP, but I haven’t gotten that consistent opportunity to play for the Warriors.

“I’ve played the odd game for them here and there, but I didn’t get a decent opportunity and run-in with the side. Then I didn’t get offered a contract with them either.”

That was when Smuts saw it fitting to look upon the horizon to discover his place within the current local cricketing landscape.

After much collaboration with his agent, Smuts, who is a father and husband of a young family, saw it best to base himself at the Oudtshoorn-based SWD, a commutable distance from their hometown of PE.

With Smuts eager to “play at the highest level that I can”, he hoped the move to SWD would fill a void currently hindering South African cricket – that of assembling a vigorous crop of pace all-rounders.

He became well-known for being the first-ever player in South African first-class cricket to score a century and take 13-plus wickets during EP’s Sunfoil 3-Day Cup encounter against Boland in 2016.

Included in that spell, Smuts also took four wickets in a row to reward him a hat-trick, an achievement of which became only the second in first-class history after Kevan James’s feat for Hampshire against India in 1996.

He also scored the highest ever total in England’s Lancashire League in 2017 when he smashed 211 runs off 139 balls, which included 23 fours and 11 sixes. He toppled the previous highest of 200 not out, scored by Australia’s Michael Clarke in 2002.

There is no doubt about what he is capable of with both bat and ball and he hoped the move down the coastline could reignite his career, especially since the SWD fall under the banner of the Cape Town-based Cape Cobras franchise.

“I’d love to play for the Cobras, but I’ll just take one step at a time. I’m really looking forward to playing for the SWD and I really want to do well for them.

“I have the hope and belief that if I do really well with them then my opportunity will come with the Cobras, especially because they have lost many of their experienced players over the last few years.

“I certainly think there’s a chance, but I obviously have to put the numbers on the board for SWD first.”

As an all-rounder with unique abilities, Smuts’ move could help him to take a step closer into the limelight.

“I’m a batting all-rounder, which there isn’t many of who bowl seam,” he said. “There are obviously quite a few batting all-rounders who bowl spin, such as my brother for example.

“Then are there quite a few bowling all-rounders, who bowl, and bat quite well, too. I’m sort of in the other mould.

“Batting is my primary skill,” he added, although he doesn’t want to compare himself to the great Jacque Kallis, he is “more in his mould and not in a Shaun Pollock mould”.

“There aren’t many of them going around today if you think about it, especially in South Africa. In world cricket, there is Ben Stokes, who is a bit of a freak, but because Kallis was so good we (South Africa) are always on the look-out for ‘that’ all-rounder.

“Anyone who comes through has big boots to fill just because Kallis was so good. But I’m hoping to get an opportunity that way.”

If his performances go according to plan, Smuts hopes to offer that something extra and special with the Cape side.

“There are many players who put numbers on the board, so I want to be the rarer species of a player, to fill a gap in the team and to bring a different balance.”

Smuts, who attended Graeme College along with his older brother Jon-Jon by one year, said it could pose an interesting contest if they had to be opponents for the first time in their lives.

“We haven’t played much together recently, because I haven’t played much for the Warriors, but it was great playing with him so I will miss that aspect.

“But maybe now I will play against him, which will be a new dynamic for us. That will be quite cool,” an excited Smuts concluded.

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