Eben Botha: We meet the South African who's landed at New City Cricket Club

The 23-year-old stepped off the plane last weekend and walked straight out to bat for New City in his much-awaited debut.

Botha made an instant impact, the left-hander hitting a six and four fours on his way to 41 against provincial powerhouse Wodonga.

His right-arm off-spin did just as much damage, Botha picking up 3-34 as the Phoenix toppled the Dogs to record their first win since round one last season.

"Enough time had been wasted already so I had to get straight into it," Botha smiled.

"I love it here. I'm having a time already and I've only been here a few days.

"They're good people, you can see they care.

"People invest in you, even if it is only a little chat, a beer or whatever.

"It's the small things like that which make it fun for people like me to come to different clubs and different places to play cricket."

Botha launched his career in Pretoria, playing provincial cricket before making his List A debut for North West against Northern Cape in 2019.

Semi-professional cricket then morphed into a rookie pro deal for Botha, who has also impressed during two spells in England with Walton-on-Thames and Coggeshall Town.

ALSO IN SPORT:

"In this time of my life, I needed a change, a new experience," he said.

"I'd got into a comfort zone back home so I felt like this is something out of my comfort zone, a new challenge, to come here and meet different people and experience another culture.

"You can definitely expect entertainment, a little bit of flair and hopefully a few bombs, some big runs."

Equally animated with ball in hand and shades on, Botha looks like one of the competition's real characters and could be a hard man to keep down.

"I bowl a few naughty offies," he said.

"It's not my first skill but I love to change games and bowling gives me the opportunity to do that.

"Batting's a funny game, you get one chance and you can sit on the side of pitch or you can stay out there the whole day.

"First of all, I try to enjoy the game.

"You have to love this game to be able to stand out in the sun for eight or nine hours, sometimes even four days in a row.

"You come out there and you never know which way the result's going to go so it's a bit of a mystery.

"My personality and the passion I have for the game complement each other well."

New City is away to winless Wodonga Raiders on Saturday before hosting North Albury in the T20 competition on Tuesday evening.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: