Piedt quits S Africa to try his luck in US

JOHANNESBURG: Dane Piedt, the nine-times capped South African Test off-spinner, still harbours hopes of playing at a 50-over World Cup, albeit not for the country of his birth.

Piedt will move to the United States of America in the next few months to be part of the new Minor League T20 tournament, which is due to launch this summer, ending his career at home.

And he intends to meet qualifying criteria to play for the USA national team and hopes to be part of their campaign to appear at the ICC’s flagship event.

“The USA were given ODI status last year so it’s not completely out of the question,” Piedt told Cricinfo, from his home in Kenilworth in South Africa’s Western Cape Province, on the first day of a three-week nationwide lockdown aimed to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

It may be far from the ideal occasion to sign an employment contract that will take Piedt thousands of kilometres away but for him the timing was right. “I just signed the deal this morning but no-one really knows when I will be able to travel. It was an opportunity I just couldn’t pass up, financially and for lifestyle reasons, but it was still a tough decision to make.”

In opting to move abroad, Piedt has not only taken himself out of contention for national selection but he has also ended a decade-long association with the Cobras franchise, where he has played throughout his career and is entering the complete unknown. He has never travelled to the USA and doesn’t even know where he will be based in the long term. “I’m a massive basketball fan, so that helps,” Piedt said.

“I will have a choice of four cities — New York, Chicago, Los Angeles or Seattle — to live in but the rest will be a surprise.”

Piedt has been taking tips from former Warriors seamer Rusty Theron, who helped him secure the deal. Theron has been living in the USA for several years, studied teaching in Miami and made his ODI debut for the country last year.

“He has given me some information,

especially about the cricket scene there. It’s a decent set-up and I know they have some good cricketers like Xavier Marshall and a few Australians and Indians who played in national Under-19 teams and then moved.”

Marshall played seven Tests, 24 ODIs and six T20s for West Indies and he along with Theron is the only other former international in the American squad. All that means that Piedt has a realistic chance of pushing for a place in the American national side, something that he can no longer say with regards to South Africa.

Despite leading the wickets chart in first-class cricket last summer and finishing in the top 10 in the two seasons before that, Piedt has lost ground to other spinners and sees himself quite far back in the queue. “Shammo (Tabraiz Shamsi) has really made a mark in white-ball cricket and Keshav (Maharaj) has done exceptionally well for the Test side, he has done exactly what the team needs,” Piedt said. “And if you look at the schedule, South Africa are not due to tour the subcontinent again soon and that’s the only place where I might get a game.”

That is exactly what happened when Piedt was recalled to the South African side to tour India last September, more than three years after being dropped. Like most of the squad that were blanked 3-0, he had a tough time but returned home to captain the South Africa A side against England and was hopeful of still being in contention for the national side. “Enoch (Nkwe) was the coach at the time and he gave me a call and said I was still in the plans,” Piedt said.