WATCH: Talented Norkem Park cricketer (17) selected for semi-pro side

Number 79 Storms Road in Norkem Park, where pink roses greet you at the front door, has all the signs of a normal suburban home.

Family photos stand proudly in the living room as the father of the house, Wonder Felane (53), reads the Sunday paper at the kitchen table. To the left of the room, almost hidden, is a small table stacked with cricket trophies.

These belong to Wonder’s two cricketing sons, Unathi (14) and Neo (17).

The latter brother, spinner and batsman Neo, has recently been included in the Easterns semi-pro senior provincial cricket side. His father is very excited.

“He makes us feel proud to be his parents. He’s a hard-working boy and he loves what he does.”

Wonder and his wife Dineo (45) always knew that Neo was destined to play sport, just not cricket. “We actually thought he was going to play soccer,” remembers Dineo. “At the age of two, he was already kicking around the ball.”

However, through soccer, Neo was eventually introduced to cricket when he was eight years old. His primary school soccer coach told him to attend the mini-cricket programme and the rest is history.

Today, nine years later, Neo plays for the Easterns team, Kempton Park Cricket Club and captains Hoërskool Birchleigh’s first team. He is also the school’s deputy head boy.

The cricketing star, who prefers bowling to batting, looks up to Keshav Maharaj from South Africa and Ravi Ashwin from India. Local bowler Maharaj took seven wickets against the Warriors this weekend, making him quite an inspiration. Neo says he loves bowling because it makes him feel in control.

Despite all his achievements, young Neo is extremely humble. He speaks to Express from a leather armchair with his feet dangling every now and then. He wears shorts, a T-shirt, cricket socks and slip-on flip-flops.

His appearance is the embodiment of a teenager but his mature demeanour makes him seem well beyond his years.

“I am privileged to have the people that I have around me,” he says. “We are a Christian home, so humility is something driven into me constantly.”

Neo practises his beloved sport for about two to three hours every day. All this, for his end goal: “I love the thrill and the adrenaline of trying to be better every day,” he says.

“The picture of seeing what I hope to achieve in the next few years is what keeps me motivated.” In this envisioned picture, Neo is dressed in green and gold as a player for the South African National Cricket team.

This is a dream that both his parents fully support. “I hope he will some day be one of the Proteas’ best bowlers,” says Wonder. “I’d love to see him make it in life and always remain humble,” Dineo adds.

Little brother Unathi, who is captained by his brother in Hoërskool Birchleigh’s first team, hopes the two brothers will play together for the Proteas. It is clear that this fellow provincial player looks up to his older brother.

“I am very proud to be captained by my own brother and to wear the same badge as my brother, both at school and provincial level.”

Although proud, Unathi also keeps Neo on his toes. “We play against each other all the time. It usually gets heated, because we want to see who’s the best,” Neo laughs.

Although the two never fight on the field, they do tend to argue once they’re off. Luckily, only about whose turn it is to do the dishes.

Does Neo think that the cricketing brothers will ever play together for the Proteas?

With a twinkle in his eye and a boyish grin, he answers confidently: “I believe that I will captain my brother for the Proteas.”