CRICKET: The Saturday Interview

IN PERFORMANCE, in conduct and in appearance, Corrie Jordaan makes a lasting impression.

His 48 wickets for Lowerhouse, making him the leading wicket taker in the E W Cartons Lancashire League and top of the bowling averages, speak volumes for his cricketing ability.

His pioneering and inspirational voluntary work with Ivy Bank High School and the Lowerhouse youngsters is the talk of Lancashire youth cricket development.

Yet comments around the grounds this season have focussed on the South African's visual impact.

And it is a measure of the man that mere measurements feature well down the Jordaan list of priorities.

In a sporting world swamped by vanity, Corrie Jordaan is an island of professional integrity.

"Aarghk," he softly barks in that typical Afrikaan drawl. "Why do they have to talk about my size?

"I carry a bit of weight, but I'm not a fat 'oke (bloke).

"I will always be a big boy because I have a big bone structure.

"And how many big guys have played Test cricket?

"Look at Brian McMillan in the South African side - he is one huge 'oke.

"I play in the one-day stuff back home and I'm probably one of the best fielders in my county side.

"I think the Lowerhouse guys took one look at me and said 'He can't play cricket'.

"Then I took nine wickets in my first game!" Now, if Jordaan was slouched around his Padiham semi-detached all day chomping pizzas and fast-forwarding through Die Hard videos (and he wouldn't be the first league professional to slob his way through a summer), then fitness would be a valid issue.

But to just hear of a typical Jordaan week means the following week has to be spent in the recovery position.

Corrie coaches four days a week at Ivy Bank - energetically by all accounts - plays tennis in his lunch hour, golf in his spare time and can be up at the crack of dawn for a spot of fly fishing.

And Lowerhouse practice sessions are now as relaxing as a Swedish sauna with the Spice Girls.

Never contenders for the tag 'Superwaif Team of the Year', the Liverpool Road outfit have risen to the demands of their own Mr Motivator, who weighs in at 210 lbs.

Every two weeks the squad disappears on a four-mile run on top of regular shuttle sprints and each game is followed by a revolutionary warm-down.

"If I can lift the amateurs to the same way I am thinking about my cricket, it's going to help me as well.

"I am trying to bring a professional and positive attitude towards practices.

"You practice like you play and practice is now four times better.

"I still hope we can win the league this year.

"I promised them that, if I come back for the next few years, we have got a good chance of winning the league.

"This year we are not slacking down.

"It is in the back of our minds that that happens every year," Corrie mused. Chief beneficiary from the new regime has been keeper Andrew 'Chippy' Chippendale. "He struggled in the beginning but I think he is one of the best keepers in the league now.

"There has been a big difference - he's brilliant!" enthused Corrie.

But Lancashire League batsmen have not yet adjusted.

His 48 wickets (58 including cups) have been taken at an average of 8.96 runs from 216 overs.

And, at the risk of denting those Lowerhouse tital hopes, beware his 'wrong 'un'.

It has already claimed the wicket of Enfield professional Shane Lee - who regards Jordaan as the trickiest bowler in the league - on two occasions.

The 33-year-old, who plays for Eastern Transvaal back home where he topped the bowling averages in 1995, is used to flat unresponsive tracks.

The high altitude in southern Johannesburg also inhibits his arm ball.

So, while the horrid weather has been as frustrating for Jordaan as anyone, it has also produced spinner-friendly wickets.

"Sometimes it is turning more than others - it depends where it hits the seam.

"I cannot give my secrets away, but I am bowling the wrong 'un much more here than I am at home," he teased.

That career in South Africa started with Transvaal at the age of 24, when Corrie also worked in a bank and had a promising career as a lock forward in rugby union's national club championship.

The re-emergence of South Africa as an international cricketing force post-apartheid prompted a commitment to full-time professionalism. His debut coincided with Graeme Pollock's final game but Jordaan moved to Eastern Transvaal on their promotion to county status in 1990.

He has just been offered a new three-year deal, combining his playing career with a role as one of six public relations officers for Easterns cricket.

The hugely positive reaction to the Ivy Bank-Lowerhouse partnership - a commonplace arrangement in South Africa where a huge scheme is flourishing under the new political regime - is an indication of the gaping chasm between the respective aptitudes for and attitudes to youth development.

At home Corrie will be in charge of 1,000 kids at a time, all of whom are provided with food and equipment at coaching sessions.

He is also responsible for teaching teachers to teach cricket.

This is clearly a consuming passion and his driving enthusiasm for last night's game between a South African Select XI and a Lowerhouse side to raise money for both parties typified the man's ardour.

With his wife and two sons only managing a two-week trip to England, his debut season in England is obviously no bed of roses.

But Corrie Jordaan is impressive and - judging by the miracles he has already worked in his short spell in England - could grow roses in the Kalahari dessert.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.