During episode 7 of the On Lockdown Series, Zubayr Hamza spoke about his experience in Test cricket, being dropped from the Test squad and having to “work hard to earn” the opportunity again.

The 24-year-old got his Test debut on 11 January 2019 as an apprentice for the Proteas Test number three batting position when everyone was anticipating the retirement of Hashim Amla.

Averaging over 50 in first-class cricket, there were high expectations of him and he showed signs of coming-of-age in India with a brilliant 62.

But he was dropped in the following series at home against England due to inconsistency in the first three matches of that four-match Test series.

“Recently I had my first experience in the Test squad, it was tough mentally but I still remain positive”, said Hamza exclusively to Cricket Fanatics Magazine.

“It’s just a pity for me it didn’t go my way in terms of performances. But that’s just cricket. You’ve got to take the highs with the lows and you have to work hard to earn that opportunity back and that’s where I am at the moment.”

The important thing at this stage is to identify the mistakes, understand the reality of the situation and work towards being better.

“Unfortunately, I didn’t deal with the skill-set part a hundred percent,” he added.

“I’ve reflected on my game and a large part of it had to do with just being disciplined as a batter and having a rock-solid game plan that I could then understand.

“That’s where I am at the moment.”

Hamza has been compared a lot to Hashim Amla who is undeniably one of the greatest batsman in the history of South African cricket.

Amla was also dropped early in his career, to be accurate, he was dropped twice but he came back stronger the third time around. He never looked back as he curved his way to the history books in the calmest, disciplined way.

Click on the link below for the interview with Zubayr Hamza.

I think Hamza’s career so far has panned-out similar to how Ashwell Prince’s career began.

Prince was dropped after playing six Tests and when he returned, the first four times he went past fifty, they were all hundreds. The fifth time he went past fifty he got out in the nineties against Australia at the Wanderers.

Prince told his story about making a comeback in international cricket after being dropped the first time, 

“I may have played my first Test at 24… I only started cementing my place in the Test team the second time around. So I played only six Tests and then I was dropped”, said Prince exclusively to Cricket Fanatics Magazine.

“I used to score a lot of scores between fifty and a hundred. I will never forget that we actually lost the SuperSport Series final in 2003 against Easterns. 

“I scored the highest score in the first innings and the highest score in the second innings and at the time Omar Henry was a national selector, he said: ‘you cost your team the final’. 

“I was young and I didn’t understand, I scored the highest runs and [in the] second innings I was not-out. How’re you putting this on me.

“The message was: ’60s doesn’t win you any matches. You scored 60, played a poor shot and you got out. I could’ve batted the team to a better position.

“I made my debut in 2002, this was in 2003, I had already been dropped and the message was clear that I’m making too many scores between fifty and a hundred. And that I needed to start scoring more hundreds.

“When I got my second chance in Test cricket, I realized that once you get past fifty you’ve got to get a hundred.” 

This shows Prince was able to identify what he needed to improve on, and once he did improve he got his opportunity and made it count.

I think we’re seeing a similar curve with Hamza’s first stint in the Test side.

Click below for the interview with Ashwell Prince