Donovan Ferreira on ignoring coach's call for Australia T20I series

JOHANNESBURG: Donovan Ferreira, who recently got selected in the South African squad for the three-match T20I series against Australia starting on August 30, expressed his excitement and said he was totally surprised to get a call from Proteas coach Rob Walter.

“I didn’t know who was calling me, so I left it. You always dream of playing for your country, and then everything starts running through your head: should you be crying, should you be smiling, jumping for joy, what should you do? You don’t really know,” said Ferreira.

It was one hour before when Ferreira was leaving for the flight to the West Indies to play for the Barbados Royals in the Caribbean Premier League, when Rob Walter again called him regarding his National call-up to which he answered. It nearly caused mayhem!

Ferreira now heads to Durban to begin his preparations for the T20I series against Australia. His call-up to the national squad comes unanticipated, just like the reawakening of his career a few years back when the Titans captain Mandla Mashimbyi summoned the 25-year-old after successive injuries to the squad.

Ferreira remembers the moment and says, “I had to stop playing cricket two years ago to work full-time, and then out of the blue, Mandla called me and said we need you to come and play.”

“So far, everything in my career has happened out of the blue, I wasn’t expecting any of this. I wasn’t expecting this call-up, I didn’t expect SA20, IPL, and the Titans call-up. My mindset since is that each opportunity I get and each game I play could be the last.”

“So, I cherish each moment and try to make as many memories as I possibly can. I enjoyed working, but I don’t want to go back there.” Ferreira adds further.

Ferreira used to work as a sales representative for a sports company, delivering bats and other equipment to Faf Du Plessis and his proteas teammate Henrich Klassen.

Ferreira is now looking forward to playing international cricket and to giving his best against Australia.

“There's a lot of rivalry and history. It's a perfect opportunity to show what we can do as a team and me as an individual. It’s always such an exciting series, they will come with a fire attack, you come with a fire team, it's always good cricket,” said Ferreira.