Visionary Leader ‘I’m a cricket man through and through’
| Who’s Luxolo Qoboshiyana, the man who replaced Ashwell Prince as a national cricket selector?
NEWLY appointed Proteas selector Luxolo Qoboshiyana has not completed a week in his new position, but already understands the pressures national selectors have to deal with.
The 60-year-old was appointed as a replacement to Ashwell Prince on the selection panel and has already found ways to deadbat their lack of international playing experience.
“I’m a cricketing person through and through and what life taught me is that dogs only bark at cars that move and at some point, they run out of energy and stop. I don’t have time for people with wrong attitudes and I believe in having a positive outlook towards life,” Qoboshiyana said.
“The fact [that some] people never got even close to representing our country because of the colour of our skin opens some big wounds.
“We come from situations where we chanted that there should be no normal sport in an abnormal society and during our nonracial days, we played as nonracial players.
“We never got the chance to fight for a place in the national team because of the laws of our time.”
Qoboshiyana is a lesser light of the cricketing outpost of Mdingi village made famous by Makhaya Ntini and Ayabulela Gqamane.
He prefers it to be that way as he feels Ntini and Gqamane have done more to put the hotspot on the world map than he would in a lifetime.
Having retired from competitive cricket in 1992, Qoboshiyana’s selectorial career started that year.
He succeeded Geoff Gamiet as Border selection convenor in 2006 from where he took over the same position with the Warriors two years ago.
The unique cricket education LUXOLO QOBOSHIYANA offered by the Border/Eastern Province region along with its special set of politics may have equipped Qoboshiyana with the strength needed to deal with the national team’s selectorial hot potatoes.
Linda Zondi’s understatedly strong leadership with excellent support offered by former Natal wicketkeeper Errol Stewart and Hussein Manack has often gone unnoticed when the national team has done well.
Qoboshiyana said: “Nelson Mandela’s words have gone a long way in terms of healing the wounds inflicted by the unjust past and when things LINDA ZONDI are tough, it’s always good to go back to his words to remind us of the past we went through and the importance of building a better tomorrow.
“I’m joining the selection panel and the team when they’re doing well and coming on the back of a 5-0 ODI [oneday international] whitewash is the best possible time to start. I do understand how different the test series in Australia will be.
“Fortunately, cricket is about teamwork and I’m happy that I’ve joined guys who have their own experiences in the game and working with them will be good for the country and good HUSSEIN MANACK for the game. One thing being the Border region and knowing the cricket riches here, picking by merit has been easy and that’s something I’ve learnt.”
He had a funny way of learning the game through hitting stones thrown at him by his friends when they were tending cattle. It was at Mzomhle High School in Mdantsane where his game took shape under the tutelage of preisolation allrounder Eddie Barlow and Ncedakele Mangxola, who gave him his first pair of flannels.
“Mr Mangxola’s contribution, along with my primary and high school teachers was important because ERROL STEWART then, as now, cricket was an expensive sport,” Qoboshiyana said.
“It was difficult to get a pair of pants in those days, but Mr Mangxola had those flannels altered so they could fit me. He may no longer be with us but it’s something that remains close to my heart.
“The thing with Eddie Barlow was the excitement of seeing an ex-professional cricketer coming to coach us, but by the time we came across him, he was adding the finishing touches. The likes of Ben Sokopo laid the early groundwork.”