Engelbrecht can't wait to unnerve the West Indies batters with his off-spin deliveries

The one true thing about the coaches of TuksCricket is that they know how to help young players play to their full potential.

The list of Tuks players who have scored runs and taken wickets for the Proteas is long. To substantiate this, four former Tuks players are in the Proteas squad, from which the team will play against Australia in England in the World Test Championship final next month. They are Aiden Markram, Tony de Zorzi, Corbin Bosch and Lungi Ngidi.

Who knows, Schalk Engelbrecht may also be counted as one of the Tuks players playing for the Proteas in a year or two. He is part of the South African A-Team touring the West Indies. The first one-day match will be played tomorrow in Saint Lucia.

Engelbrecht's CV makes for impressive reading. He was the SA Schools captain and also played for the South African under-19 team. Earlier this year, he was in action for the SA Emerging team.

Former Test player Paul Adams, who is now a high-performance bowling coach for Cricket South Africa, believes Engelbrecht has what it takes to play for the Proteas.

"Schalk is a tall off-spinner. And he can bat a bit. So, he is a good package. He's developing all the time. He's got those variations. But for me, it's understanding what he must do first before bowing those carrom balls and doosras. He's had this for a couple of years now. But look, it takes time. "So, I've already planted the fact that you have these deliveries because you can't just become a one-trick pony, especially when it comes to shorter formats of the game," Adams said in an interview with Club Cricket SA.

According to Engelbrecht, he will always be grateful to TuksCricket.

"Coach Kruger van Wyk has made me the player I am. He was the first to believe in me."

Needless to say, Engelbrecht considers the first time he was part of the Tuks team that won the USSA Tournament a highlight.

"We played Northwest University in the final. It was a humdinger. We won by one run in the end."

Engelbrecht was Player of the Match during last year's National Club Championship at Tuks, taking 3/24 in ten overs. His heroics against Northwest University clinched the tournament for Tuks.

Engelbrecht says it was his brother who sparked his love of cricket.

"When I was little, my brother would bowl balls to me so that I could improve my batting technique. Ultimately, things so worked out that off-spin bowling became my forte as a cricketer. I have been bowling off-spin from the age of nine.

"The way I spin the ball is definitely my forte as an off-spin bowler. Because I am tall, I also get a lot of bounce. I am currently working hard on improving the finer technique of my carron ball delivery. As an off-spin bowler, my challenge is to outthink the batsman.”