“If you want to be the best in the world, you must train like you are number two,” is one of the acclaimed quotes about the quest to be a champion.
Dane Vilas is arguably in a similar position, occupying the wicket-keeper batsman spot in the South Africa A-team and relentlessly pursuing a return to the national test squad.
Vilas was sensational with the blade in the Sunfoil Series, hammering 761 runs at an average of 69.18 which included two centuries and three half-centuries with a strike-rate of more than 78. He finished at the summit of the national batting average in the four-day showpiece.
He was also the Cape Cobras’ stand-out batsman of the four-day campaign.
The Cape champions, who won the title in two of the last four seasons, finished fourth. They slipped to a disappointing 10-run loss against The Unlimited Titans at Boland Park in Paarl on Saturday.
The hosts, who were set a modest target of 136, were dismissed for 125 as Rowan Richards wrecked their hopes with a superb 7-40.
Some of his senior opponents have admiringly observed that the Vilas of one season ago and the Vilas of 2016-vintage is chalk and cheese.
His self-belief is palpable and his repertoire of attacking strokes has made it almost impossible to bowl to him domestically when the force is with him.
“I do think some of the hard work I put in in the nets has been instrumental in my improvement,” he said.
“I always check in with Andrew Puttick (senior batsman who is only one of two batsmen in the Cape Cobras squad to have scored in excess of 10 000 first-class runs), as he is very involved with my throw-downs,” he added.
The mental route to a double century or a big hundred is one that is important, as a batsman needs to negotiate the tricky moments when he loses focus.
If a short-list of the Cape Cobras first-class player of the year is made, it won’t be too surprising to find Vilas’ name there.
His partnership of 393 runs for the fifth wicket with JP Duminy is a South African first-class record and both hammered career-best double centuries.
Asked about the shortfalls in the top-order batting, Vilas said the top-order struggled to assemble partnerships and they also could not capitalize occasionally on useful starts to record centuries.
Apart from Omphile Ramela, who finished with 592 runs at an average of 42.28, no other member of the top-four was able to strike a century during the topsy-turvy four-day season for the Cape Cobras.