Steven Price interviews Dean du Plessis, the blind Zimbabwean commentator
Steven Price09-Dec-2006
Dean du Plessis: ‘I can tell when a bowler bowls a yorker from the way the batsman jams down the wicket’ © Getty Images
When you first hear Dean du Plessis talk about cricket on Zimbabwean radio and television or on South African radio, his natural broadcasting voice grabs you instantly.Then there is the flawless English and articulation, and a perceptible authority with which he speaks, accompanied by a fine knowledge of the game.It is amazing, then, to learn that Dean was born blind in Harare 28 years ago. Touring sides and commentators alike have all been left awestruck by du Plessis’s gift.He is able to tell the kind of shot from the sound made by the ball on the bat. He can also tell the bowler by the way he lands his feet on the deck. “For example, the way Dwayne Bravo drags his feet, you can make him out, and Shane Warne sounds like he is constipated.”The technique applies to the batsmen, too: “When a batsman hits through the off side, the ball makes a sharp cracking sound. When he plays leg it’s a bit muffled because he is playing off his pads. I can tell when a bowler bowls a yorker from the way the batsman jams down the wicket.”Although his brother Gary played cricket in Zimbabwe for Mashonaland and Mashonaland Country Districts, du Plessis did not start off as a cricket fanatic. The seed was planted while at a school for the blind in Worcester, South Africa, when the national side had just been reintroduced to international cricket. But the biggest spur-on for Dean came from his own national team, Zimbabwe, in the 1992 World Cup.”I really got hooked on to cricket when Zimbabwe beat England. I was very satisfied when Eddo Brandes clean bowled our Zimbabwean export, Graeme Hick. Then afterwards I started doing mock commentaries in the hostel at school. I would wake up in the evening to do commentary. Most of the times it involved Zimbabwe and South Africa, and mostly it would be a Zimbabwean doing something to a South African – like Eddo Brandes clean-bowling Gary Kirsten, or Dave Houghton hitting someone for six.”The kids didn’t like me doing that, and they wanted to sleep, but I paid no attention. Then one evening we were studying for an exam, and I started commentating. One of the very strict teachers heard me and walked up to me. I said to myself ‘now I’m in real trouble’. He came up to me, tapped me on the shoulder, and told me, ‘Dean, you should take this up as a profession, because you are brilliant!’ That coming from a very strict teacher, I felt really motivated.”On returning home to Zimbabwe in 1994, du Plessis followed the domestic first-class competition, the Logan Cup, where he developed his amazing art.In 2001, he got his first chance to mix with international journalists. “It was Zimbabwe’s first ever triangular series involving India and the West Indies. Cricinfo had a media team doing online updates, and a guy called Neil Manthorp said I had a good voice.”He then made his television debut in 2003 when West Indies toured Zimbabwe, getting involved in the second ODI at Bulawayo, alongside Tony Cozier, Pommie Mbangwa, Bruce Yardley and Jimmy Adams. “It was obviously very nice,” he said. “TV is different from radio but I adapted quickly, fortunately.” I have never been paid for doing this. I’m doing it because I love doing it du Plessis laments the day his country let go experienced players, which left the team heavily weakened. “It hurts me to see what has happened to our team,” he said. “The rebel issue was very devastating. Losing a whole team like that was like being wiped away from the face of earth. I think the biggest loss was Sean Ervine. I know this is a big statement – but if Ervine had played Test cricket the same number of games Heath Streak played, he would have achieved more than Streak.”du Plessis refuses to blame inexperience as the cause for the Zimbabwe team’s poor showing, including the recent ODI series defeat in Bangladesh. “In 1983, in our first World Cup, we beat Australia. In 1987 Dave Houghton got 142 runs, and he and Iain Butchart actually had a record stand for the ninth wicket. Bear in mind that we had no international cricket experience apart from the odd first-class match. We had no top international cricket, yet we still performed admirably.”In 1992 Zimbabwe had no ODI and Test status, but we beat England. Andy Flower got a hundred against Sri Lanka, so it is a pathetic excuse to say this team has no experience when they have played more that 20 ODIs this year alone. Why is it that the players of those years played lesser games over a period of three years or so, and they were more competitive than the current players?”He talks as well of an undying craving to see a full-strength Zimbabwe side again, but “if we can’t get all the players back, the only way to improve is to have a lot more four-day games against top sides. We have to be competitive and even beat them, otherwise next year Tests will be ending in two days.”du Plessis currently freelances for a Zimbabwe radio station and presents a cricket TV programme. His biggest dream, to turn professional, however, remains unfulfilled.”You cannot make a career out of broadcasting in Zimbabwe. I have never been paid for doing this. I’m doing it because I love doing it,” he said. “But now I want to become professional. I’m keen to visit even more countries. If I get something elsewhere, I’m willing to leave the country I love so much.”Raised in Kadoma, a small town south-west of Harare, Dean pays tribute to his family. “If it was not for my brother Gary, I would not have known anything about the game, it’s simple as that. My father has been very instrumental. He makes sure I get to the studio on time and gets me stuff from the internet. My family means a lot to me.”So let’s hope to hear more of Dean du Plessis.