South African-born Kiwi cricketer Michael Rippon has had a cosmopolitan career having so far plied his trade in England, the Netherlands and now New Zealand. Verve caught up with him for a Father’s Day-dedicated chat as he took a break from the Black Caps’ tour of Scotland.
“I’ve always been exposed to sport,” says the cricketer over the phone from Edinburgh. “Both my parents were athletes, my dad did triathlons and won an Iron Man back in the 80s.”
Cricket however, barely registered on Michael’s radar as a youth, instead he preferred to spend his hours on his aunt’s backyard tennis court in Cape Town, or at the driving range with his dad.
“Once you get to school, you’re encouraged to play team sports,” he goes on. “So, my summer sport was cricket, and my winter sport was hockey. That’s how I first got into cricket. Then me and Dad would head down to the nets a couple of times a week and hit balls I suppose that’s where I developed my loved for it, and the older I got, the better I got and began to realise I could maybe do it as a career.”
First, Michael had a three-year plan that involved finishing school, attending the academy, and then heading to university before donning his cricketing whites full time, but the talented all-rounder found himself promoted from the youth system early.
“I did well at under-19 level and got thrown into the professional side, so it all happened pretty quick.”
His Dad, I say, must be incredibly proud
“Yeah, he is, and he always claims I got my cricketing skills from him,” says the sportsman with a chuckle. “But I remember when I was about five years old watching him play in a social game. Obviously, I really looked up to him as all boys do with their dads, but he went in to bat and got out on the first ball, and I was really upset! So, although I did inherit his athletic genes, maybe not so much the cricketing ones!”
Are there any other life skills or lessons that you’ve learnt from him?
“I’ve always respected how he never forced me into anything. He always told me that whatever you want to achieve in life is possible, so long as you enjoy doing it because then you’ll be prepared to put in the required effort and make sacrifices. My career has been something of a rollercoaster, but both my parents have been of great support and never given up on me. I wouldn’t be where I am today if it weren’t for all the sacrifices and countless hours of support my dad has put into my cricket from a young age. In life, not just in sport, you have to embrace the journey, and that’s something I’ve always tried to focus on, but you seldom go on a journey alone and both my parents have been hugely part of mine.”
As for favourite Father’s Day memories, Michael laments that owing to his globe-hopping, the timing of the cricket season, and, more recently, the pandemic, he hasn’t spent the special day with his dad for around 12 years. Before then, most of the best reminiscences revolve around the golf course.
“My old man is pretty selfless, so Father’s Day would end up being more about me than him anyway! He’d always ask what I wanted to do, which usually meant the golf course. Nowadays it’s all about electronic postcards unfortunately.”
Becoming a professional sportsman is, of course, the ultimate ambition of many a young boy, but I wonder if Michael – who’s also a keen surfer and hiker – had any other dreams growing up. An actor is the thing he most clearly remembers first wanting to be, he tells me, or, more specifically, “to be Batman”.
And, if you think about it, a bat man, he has become.
