A duck in his first-ever game for Strandfontein Cricket Club in Cape Town could have been enough to throw a youngster off. Not Jean-Paul Duminy. With tremendous support from his grandparents, who didn't miss a single game he played, it didn't take him long to realise that with the worst out of the way, it could only get better from there. And it did.
For instance, he wouldn't have been able to reminisce about one of his favourite cricketing memories that involved Morne Morkel during South Africa's tour of England in 2008 the year he made his Test debut. "At the Oval, Graeme Smith was the captain and Morne was batting. Smith jokingly said, 'if you get out, don't come back to the dressing room'. Morne was so upset when he got out that he walked in the wrong direction. If the changing room was to the left, he walked off to the right," said Duminy flashing a smile. "He ended up walking into the groundsman's shed. It was too embarrassing for him to walk back, so he had to walk back through the crowd to get to the stadium. The whole stadium just erupted laughing!"
Coming through the ranks of junior cricket and first-class, he made his One-Day International debut in 2004, but his Test chance came only four years later in Perth. Filling in for an injured Ashwell Prince, Duminy lived the dream, scoring the winning runs with an unbeaten fifty in a century stand with AB de Villiers, taking South Africa to victory in a record-breaking chase.
"Few things fell into place for me to start cricket, especially in Tests," Duminy told Cricbuzz. "I don't necessarily see it as luck, more like opportunity. Everybody gets different opportunities in different ways. Unfortunately, Ashwell got injured and that was an opportunity for me. I got injured, opportunity for Faf (du Plessis). It's weird how things work out. One day you think there's no way into the team, and the next day you're in.
"I remember in 2012, the morning of a Test match against New Zealand, Jacques Kallis woke up with a stiff neck, next minute I was playing and got a hundred in that game. You just got to take opportunities when they come. You never know what's around the corner, so you just have to enjoy every moment, the experiences and have fun."
Duminy, who now has featured in 34 Tests, 150 ODIs and 70 Twenty20 Internationals since, could have had more to his name had it not been for injuries galore. The latest of which was a seven-month layoff that he had before South Africa's tour of India in 2015. However, that's not how the left-hander, who is a self-proclaimed believer in everything happening for a reason, perceives the deterrent.
"With that injury layoff, I tried and focussed on other things in my life. That injury gave me perspective to focus and find a better balance between my career and personal life. I focussed a bit more on family, I have a daughter now. There are other priorities that take preference. You don't take your eye off the fact that you want to give your all to your career and try to maximise it to the best way possible, but I'm thankful because it has given me perspective outside."
It is incredibly easy to overlook perspective and bask in the glory of the success and the razzmatazz of being an international cricketer, but that comes at a price. Riding the wave of which, Duminy felt disconnected from his inner-self and felt the void increasingly. He found a way to address it three years ago, which has been life-changing.
"I'm a born Christian; I devoted my life to god three years ago," affirmed Duminy who is quite vocal about his faith, and as evident from his Twitter feed. "That has been an amazing journey for me. I had a pretty good career, good sport structures and have lived a good life, but I always felt something was missing. I knew that a relationship with god was missing and that's why I made the decision to do that.
"It has also changed my perspective on life on the whole, especially my career. I understand now that the outcomes are not in my hands. You give your all on the field and surrender the outcome. It's tough to do that because you feel like you're in control and ought to control things. I realised that that's how things work, that's what faith is about. It's about leaving the unseen and my life has changed."
Life has changed in more ways than one for the South African who was in August 2015, blessed with a baby girl Isabella Hannah. If his perception of life had changed with faith, his take on family and cricket reformed further.
"The birth of my daughter has opened my eyes to what life is really about. Cricket is only a blip in your life. It's obviously not going to be there forever. Yes, you'd like to stay involved in the game potentially afterwards, but the most important thing for me is family and making sure that I'm a good dad first and then a good cricket player. A kid relies on its parents the most and you have to make sure that you provide them to the best of your possible abilities. My wife and kid travel with me quite a bit which is quite challenging at times. You don't want to miss out on the big moments in your life, so it's a sacrifice we make.
"Between myself and my wife, we make sure that we don't spend too much time apart. Not more than 3-4 weeks because then it becomes a bit long, so we try and space it out as much as possible and spend as much time as we can together. Yes, you have to give your career your all, but understanding it's not the most important thing in your life, but just a part of it, is important. It's taken me a long time to understand that."
That understanding also brought about a drastic change to Duminy's approach to batting. With the outcomes out of his line of thought, the only thing in focus was his game. "Why I say it has changed me is because I am emotionally a bit more stable, so the ups and downs are not too far apart," he said. "I try and keep a balance in understanding of ups and downs, so when things are going well, I'm not too far out and when things are not, I'm not too far down. If you look at this past season it's been a very lean season internationally. It's been tough, but my faith has kept me going."
South Africa came into the recently-concluded World Twenty20 that West Indies won, as favourites, but didn't even make the semifinals, which the media and spectators didn't receive too well. Duminy himself, played only two matches before not partaking in another game due to a hamstring injury.
"We had high expectations of ourselves and know that we are a good team," rued Duminy who scored 83 in two innings. "We knew we have the team to go all the way but we couldn't put the pieces of the puzzle together unfortunately. Every player will put their hand up and say they take responsibility for that performance; we know it wasn't good enough. We just have to keep trying and not give up. That's what we pride ourselves on as Proteas: we believe in ourselves as being resilient. So, whenever we get knocked down we pick ourselves back up and keep moving forward."
Duminy was back in India a few weeks later to join a fairly young Delhi Daredevils squad in the ninth edition of the Indian Premier League. Duminy, along with only Zaheer Khan and Amit Mishra formed the core team of seniors in a squad that was heading the Rajasthan Royals way under the guidance of the conglomeration of Paddy Upton and Rahul Dravid, who at the auctions went after a team of youngsters with not many icon players.
"I was quite excited after the auctions," said a seemingly upbeat Duminy. "There aren't a lot of big names, but there are exciting youngsters that's what excites me. I enjoy working with young people and having them on my team as they bring in energy. There are no egos to deal with.
"From a senior and management point of view, it's about just trying to stick to the process. It's a very clichd saying, but we make sure that is our focus: stick to the process, don't worry about the outcomes. It's a journey and there are going to be a few bumps along the way. We don't want to get into the space where wins or losses get to us. We have to stay humble, got to make sure we play every game as it comes and not get ahead of ourselves. Those are what we try and discuss and try to take positives out of a win or a loss."
From a personal point of view, being in such a setup bodes well for Duminy in the larger scheme of things. He eventually wants work with younger players on the mental aspect of the game. "I've always had interest in the mental side of the game because over the years I have understood that a lot of the game is actually played in your head. It's based around your thinking. I'm not saying I have the perfect answers but I understand now that the better thinking we have, the more successful we'll be. I'm not one to impose my thinking or knowledge on anyone. If the opportunity arises to share my knowledge with anyone, I will gladly."
It is safe to say that Delhi have exceeded expectations this season with seven wins in 13 games. Earlier in the season, they beat Royal Challengers Bangalore at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium for the first time in ten games, which gave them a massive confidence boost. They carried that forward into their campaign well before encountering some stumbling blocks where they lost four of their last six games with one to play. Duminy, however, believes that Dravid's man management around every player has been vital for them and showing faith in players brings the best out of a team.
"It's about showing faith in players; anyone can perform at any given time. From a management point of view, it's about believing in your players. It doesn't matter if you're a young player or old, if you feel like you're a part of the team and worth being a part of it, you're going to give it your all in the middle."
The cricketing experience and knowledge of life that Duminy brings at the relatively young age of 32, lends a balance - to his game and life. As someone who has found that balance in himself, it is only safe to assume the team is in guarded hands.