The toast of Tickhill: Meet 10-wicket hero Tian Koekemoer

The South Africa allrounder made Yorkshire Southern Premier League history on May 7 when he became the first player to take 10 wickets (10 for 38) in an innings

On April 8, 2022, Tian Koekemoer was posing with the CSA Provincial One-Day Challenge (Division Two) trophy in his native South African following KwaZulu-Natal Inland’s five-wicket win over Western Cape.

29 days later, on a cricket pitch over 9,500km from Pietermaritzburg’s City Oval, he made Yorkshire Southern Premier League history, taking 10 for 38 during Tickhill’s 124-run hammering of Barnsley Woolley Miners to become the first player to take 10 wickets in an innings since the league was launched in 2016.

"The rest of my team were probably happier than me in the moment because I was just so tired and relieved it was over – I’m not even celebrating much on the video!" Koekemoer tells The Cricketer. "Probably around the seventh wicket I realised it was on. I was already tired, but I got a second wind and thought, 'I’ve just got to keep it simple'.

"I just tried to move the ball away from the batters and hit the right areas – I’m a big believer in the process and sticking to what I trust. I’m just lucky enough that it went my way. Someone will get 10 for a lot less runs, but it’s nice for now. Maybe I’ll be lucky and get another one!"

This is Koekemoer’s first stint in English cricket, an opportunity borne out of Covid-19 and the introduction of online exams, which allows the Eastern Province native to continue his studies – he’s working towards a degree, his second, in strategic management – from the comfort of his new home. And he’s taken to Yorkshire like a duck to water, both on and off the field.

And here are 9 of the ten! ( the stream went down for the 8th!)@TianKoekemoer07 pic.twitter.com/nCM5uQCmIg

— Tickhill Cricket Club (@TickhillCClub) May 7, 2022

"The conditions are very similar to where I grew up. I kept on telling people this when I arrived, but no one believed me – they probably thought it was just talk," he says. "Yorkshire is beautiful. It’s so green, the countryside, the farms, a lot of history and the people are so friendly. I think that’s why I’ve settled because it feels like home… except for the weather, that’s a bit tricky sometimes!"

Facing Barnsley on May 7, the 27-year-old also made a contribution with the bat, scoring 40 runs at No.4, before his record-breaking antics with the ball and credits his time in the middle – he faced 69 balls - with giving him valuable insight into the pitch.

"They put us into bat, but it felt like a good toss to lose," he recalls. "You couldn’t get after every ball, you couldn’t settle, it was up and down and there was no momentum. Spending a long time out there batting, I had an idea of where to bowl because I found certain areas difficult to face. If I could do the same when bowling then I should be asking a lot of questions, and it worked."

With the ball, he struck in his third over of the day, opener Jason Booth caught behind by wicketkeeper Jordan Lowe, to kickstart the landslide of wickets. Six players bowled, one lbw and three caught – including the all-important, history-making wicket of No.10 Oliver Jackson – in 14.4 overs. But did he feel any pressure during what would prove to be the final over of the match?

"Funnily enough, no," he says. "It was all such a blur and I said to our captain Alex Rowland, 'I don’t think you should bowl me this over', I was so tired. Normally in South Africa, I’d bowl 15 or 20 in a day but not in a spell! He said, 'If I don’t bowl you now, I’ll never be welcome back at Tickhill again'.

"I bowled a wide with the first ball and had to pull it together, find a way for six balls, and that got me going. I pushed again and it worked out."

^{Koekemoer in action with the bat for Tickhill}

As for his favourite dismissal of the day, Barnsley captain Booth takes that honour: "He looked a good batter and we had a chat when he was fielding and he seemed like he would have been a good cricketer in his day – a lot of the guys said that. He was quite organised so to work him over, it wasn’t just a case of putting the ball there and something would happen. He could bat and I had to be smart.

"That wicket started everything. Jordan Lowe, our keeper, took a really good catch and sometimes those blinders can be the spark for something special. Our fielding was unbelievable, probably one of the best performances I’ve seen by a slip cordon. That first wicket sparked this belief and a lot of high quality performances from the whole squad."

The reaction to his achievement, he says, has been amazing, with family and friends, some of whom he hasn’t heard from in years, getting in touch to congratulate him. There’s been teasing of course, mostly attributing his success to the sun shining off his balding head and blinding the batters – "they don’t stop with that one," he laughs – and he’s aware this Saturday, when Tickhill host Appleby Frodingham, and every Saturday beyond, that teams will be expecting big things from him.

But knowing all too well the fickle nature of cricket, he’s unfazed by the added pressure, instead more concerned about the damage his 10-wicket haul will do to his reputation as a batting allrounder: "Back home I’m a first change or second change bowler and I definitely prefer batting. I’m going to have to get a hundred now or something to prove it!"