Walter gets creative with Proteas’ player conditioning to ensure longevity

Long gone are the days where fast bowlers could build match fitness through hours in the nets or playing lots of first-class cricket. 

A packed calendar no longer means a full summer at home and then a stint with an English County. Now it’s about T20 Leagues and an international schedule that has an International Cricket Council’s (ICC) annual event, with some Test cricket thrown in between. 

It’s an unhealthy and largely unsustainable schedule, but one that the Proteas men's coaches are being forced to navigate creatively.

Rather than have players on a “hamster wheel”, Rob Walter and Shukri Conrad — assisted by Enoch Nkwe and with oversight from Cricket SA’s medical staff — have sought to create what have been termed “conditioning blocks”, particularly for fast bowlers, to try to ensure longevity. 

Gerald Coetzee and Marco Jansen are the most prominent of the young fast bowlers now engaged in a 12-week conditioning block. They’re not playing any cricket. Instead, the extended period away from the game involves strength and conditioning, technical work, and rest and recuperation. 

Jansen and Coetzee have what Walter this week described as “chronic physical ailments”. Jansen’s is with his shoulder, Coetzee his hip. Coetzee is more concerning because his career is littered with injuries, that include back ailments, side strains and now the hip, which prevented him from playing in the recent Test series against West Indies.

Jansen, 24, and Coetzee, 23, emerged from the 2019 ODI World Cup with bright futures being forecast, and specifically their importance to South Africa for the home World Cup in 2027, being highlighted. 

These conditioning blocks are to ensure they can sustain high levels of performance, across three formats, for a long time and be in optimum shape in three years' time. “We’ve had extensive conversations with the players,” said Walter.

Workloads on young cricketers have gone through the roof, especially for fast bowlers

—  Rob Walter, Proteas ODI and T20I coach

“It’s about mapping the next 24 to 48 months, to ensure the fast bowling unit has a competitive advantage. Jansen and Coetzee presented with chronic ailments, which usually affect fast bowlers, and we had to step in. Workloads on young cricketers have gone through the roof, especially fast bowlers.” 

Historically, a stint in County cricket was viewed as ideal for the development of young bowlers and creating the kind of “core strength” that would positively influence longevity. 

Nowadays, however, players like Jansen and Coetzee are contracted to T20 leagues, and while, at face value, bowling just four overs per match seems simple, events like the Indian Premier League (IPL) demand much more physical and mental resilience than playing County cricket. 

From extreme heat in India, to the vast travel in that country, the different conditions and the numerous off-field commitments, the demands on young fast bowlers in the IPL are immense. 

Cricket SA learnt a painful lesson from how Kagiso Rabada was managed in 2019, when — despite withdrawing him early from that year’s IPL, citing a lower back injury — his heavy workload at the tournament and in the months preceding it, left him drained. This was reflected in a number of poor performances at the World Cup in 2019.

Coetzee and Jansen won’t be touring the UAE, where the Proteas face Ireland and Afghanistan later this month, nor Bangladesh for the two-match Test series in October. 

Both are being readied for the home summer, with Tests against Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Besides the Tests, there are also three ODIs and three T20s against Pakistan that will be followed by the SA20, then the Champions Trophy in Pakistan and the IPL thereafter.

“It is part of a broader plan. Of course the guys want to play cricket, but we want them to play their best cricket for SA. Their X-factor is bowling fast and we need to make sure we give them the best chance to do that,” said Walter.

Jansen certainly wants to play, but he understands the value of being away from competitive cricket for the next few weeks. “We are working on getting a stronger action, which relates to strengthening my body,” said the lanky all-rounder, named the Proteas Player of the Season last week.

“There is some technical work on my bowling and batting too. With my bowling, it’s about the wrist position, because if that falls, I tend to drag the ball down the leg side. On the batting, it’s about working on positioning my hands, my feet and mentally just being stronger. It will benefit me and the team, because a better player will make a better team. If everyone is fitter, stronger and working on their mental game, the technical stuff, then the team is bound to improve.”