SAM MORSHEAD: At the end of a 21-year career, the South Africa allrounder will call time after T20 Finals Day this weekend - a fitting finale for a man who has so heartily embraced white-ball cricket in recent years
Johann Myburgh is to retire after T20 Blast Finals Day
For Somerset’s Johann Myburgh, the stage has been set, the lights have been rigged and the cast assembled.
At the end of a 21-year career, the South Africa allrounder will call time after T20 Blast Finals Day this weekend - a fitting finale for a man who has so heartily embraced white-ball cricket in recent years.
Myburgh’s long goodbye began more than a month ago with an emotional open letter to Somerset supporters and the farewell tour will arrive in Edgbaston looking for the perfect encore.
Not that cricket’s shortest format allows too much for sentiment.
“Once everything is done and I’m sitting there after the final, hopefully, once a few pictures have been taken and champagne has been sprinkled everywhere then I suppose I’ll have a quiet moment and reflect on the season and my career but, up until then, I’ll be very much in the moment,” Myburgh told The Cricketer.
“It will be busy, it will be fast, the day will go very quickly. I’ll be trying to combat their bowlers, trying to work out how to win a cricket match. You can’t ask for a better distraction than that.
“I’d like to think I’ll be very focused on what I have to do.”
Myburgh is well liked by the Somerset fans
Myburgh’s powerful contributions at the top of the Somerset order have brought him 350 runs in this year’s competition, including a bombastic century against Essex, but the moment that has stuck with him above all others is the ovation he received from the Taunton crowd after the quarter-final victory over Notts Outlaws.
It underlined a very personal bond that Myburgh feels with the people of the south west county.
After a globe-trotting career which began in his native Pretoria and took him to Somerset via Auckland, Canterbury, Durham and Hampshire, Myburgh is at home in cider country.
His son, Joshua, was born in Taunton’s Musgrove Park Hospital and his affinity with the club - from boardroom level to regulars in the Sir Ian Botham Stand - is quite remarkable.
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It was no surprise, then, that his valedictory game against Notts was followed by an emotional goodbye.
“It’s been very special, unforgettable, totally unexpected and very humbling,” Myburgh said of the messages he has received since announcing his intention to retire.
“I’ve loved coming down here and feel so blessed to have finished my career down here.
“I’ve grown to love the club and felt that way soon after joining - the fans, staff and players have all done their bit in making me feel a part of it.
The batsman is congratulated after hitting a T20 half-century against Hampshire
“To receive the ovation I did at the end of the quarter-final was something I’ll remember for a very long time and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t get emotional as I walked off the pitch.
“It’s just confirmed why I thought this was a special place.”
As he walked off the outfield after beating Notts in August, 10 yards in front of his team-mates and to cacophonous applause from the supporters, who remained in the ground in their droves to see the batsman off, Myburgh admits to becoming emotional.
“You know life carries on and I’ve played for a long time, so I’ve been very fortunate from that respect. I was just appreciating that I’d played for such a long time, appreciating that I am so well supported,” he said.
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“The respect shown by the fans and by my team-mates is something you can’t put into words, they are memories that will last forever.”
Still, the pace of Twenty20 leaves little room for sentimentality - there’s no time for a fond flashback to days of old, for instance, as Tymal Mills or Jofra Archer steams to the crease.
And so Myburgh has to get his big-hitting hat on and help Somerset down Sussex Sharks.
“We’ll play how we want to play,” he said. “We’ll try to put people under pressure and each batter will have their own ways of doing that against different bowlers.
“They are a very talented and skillful bowling line-up but we want to put them under pressure. We’ve got decent variety in our batting line-up and we have the people to make bowlers make mistakes.
He received a fond farewell from the Taunton crowd
“There’s no need for us to change too much, the guys will be trusting their skills and preparing appropriately.
“We’ll take conditions into consideration, that’s one thing we’ve done very well throughout this tournament - we have an experienced side so we’ll see what we have in front of us and work out the best possible way to combat their bowling line-up.”
For a man who promised so much in red-ball cricket - as a teenager Myburgh became South Africa’s youngest ever first-class centurion, beating the record previously held by Graeme Pollock, and was a fixture in the Proteas’ Under 19s - it might seem a shame that the 37-year-old became lost to the longest form.
But Myburgh enthuses about the role of limited-overs cricket in the development of the sport and it is that passion that Somerset fans have come to adore over the past four years.
“I’ve never hidden the fact that I love T20 and white-ball cricket. It’s a massive part of the game and I think it’s very important for the future of cricket,” he said.
“Test cricket is the ultimate and you get tested in different ways but all three formats are a part of our game and it takes different skills - not just physically but also mentally - to play in each.
“It’s a challenge that I love - the fast pace of the game and the bravery you need to play it. It’s something I really enjoy and to be able to bow out at the pinnacle on Finals Day is perfect.”
Mr Myburgh, it’s time for your curtain call.
Keep up to date with events from Finals Day with The Cricketer's live blog, starting at 10.30am on Saturday