Proteas rookie speedsters out to shine in the UAE

Zaahier Adams

The forthcoming white-ball series against Afghanistan and Ireland will provide Proteas coach Rob Walter with a clear path with regards to which fast bowlers he will move forward with.

Walter has selected a greenhorn attack for the tour to the United Arab Emirates, allowing the likes of Marco Jansen and Gerald Coetzee to continue their strength and rehabilitation programmes, while regular spearhead Kagiso Rabada has been afforded some time to rest.

Anrich Nortje, who was the Proteas’ leading wicket taker at the recent ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, is also not available after opting out of a national contract earlier this year, which allows him to continue playing in the various T20 leagues around the world.

In their absence the most senior fast bowler will be Lungi Ngidi, who also only recently recovered from an injury to his right calf that had ruled him out of the T20 series against the West Indies last month.

Ngidi will be joined by the inexperienced trio of Lizaad Williams (13 T20Is and four ODIs), Nandre Burger (two T20Is and three ODIs) and Ottniel Baartman (nine T20Is).

While Walter would certainly have liked some more experience added to the attack, he feels that it’s in the best interest of both the players and the Proteas’ long- term ambitions that Jansen and Nortje complete their strength and rehabilitation programmes.

“Both of these young players were presenting with chronic physiological and physical things that are predisposed to fast bowling and so we realised that we had to step in. We have to give these guys the best chance of being able to perform,” Walter said.

“Obviously the workload on young cricketers has gone through the roof, especially guys who bowl fast. In order to ensure that their injuries didn’t put up the stop sign, we wanted to put them on a conditioning block.”

South African cricket’s most prized asset, Rabada, also has to be managed much more efficiently these days.

For too long, due to his importance, Rabada had been ploughed into the ground playing virtually every single match for country and various T20 franchises around the world.

The long-term effects of this intense schedule have been evident over the past couple of seasons, particularly in the shorter formats, where Rabada had lost his natural zip that made him such a fierce competitor.

Walter is cognisant of this fact, and has therefore, in consultation with his Proteas Test counterpart Shukri Conrad, decided that now would be the most opportune time for Rabada to recharge ahead of a packed schedule from next month until April next year.

The Proteas have a two-match Test series against Bangladesh, a four-match T20 series against T20 World Cup winners India, two Tests, three T20s and three ODIs against Sri Lanka, two Tests against Pakistan and a tri-series in Pakistan, followed by the ICC Champions Trophy.

This is in addition to Rabada’s SA20 and IPL commitments.

“If you look at what he has in store for him, starting from when the Bangladesh Test series starts, it’s non-stop cricket,” Walter said.

“When KG puts on a jersey for South Africa, we want him to be delivering his best and we’ve seen that when his pace is up, that’s when he’s most impactful and effective. It’s just not possible to keep expecting him to do that if we don’t provide these rest, recovery and conditioning windows.

“This was a perfect time to give him that opportunity. We don’t have a lot of Test matches so to have our best bowlers available and firing for Test cricket is absolutely imperative. So there’s a collaboration between myself and Shukri to make sure that that happens.”