Coetzee trusts his body will remain strong as he returns for Proteas

Gerald Coetzee said he had no option but to trust his body, despite suffering numerous injury setbacks. 

Coetzee will be returning to the Proteas side for the triangular T20 series with Zimbabwe and New Zealand that starts in Harare on Monday. The 24-year-old only played in four T20 Internationals against India and the first Test against Sri Lanka before missing the rest of last season with groin and later hamstring injuries. 

Even worse, when he’d recovered from the hamstring ailment — which curtailed his SA20 participation — he was picked for the Champions Trophy squad, but he then re-injured his groin at a training session ahead of the team’s departure. 

“With what I do for a living, being a fast bowler, I’ve come to understand what happens to us. It has been a tough few months. I’m [not unique] in that sense. If you look at all the bowlers who bowl high 140kph, we occasionally struggle with injuries.”

“But I understand the process and what it requires. You see where you need to get stronger and if you get injured, you start again. It is what it is.”

“I trust that I can bowl 140 — for sure. I just came from Major League Cricket, it was very positive. I can’t think about what might happen. It is tough physically to bowl fast, but I love it and I trust my body to be able to do that,” said Coetzee.

He played a few matches in this year’s IPL and then headed to the US, where he featured for the Seattle franchise in the MLC. Those outings were enough to convince Shukri Conrad that Coetzee deserved selection for what will be Conrad’s first matches in charge of the Proteas’ T20 side. 

Coetzee returns to the national side with the number of seam bowling options much increased since he last played in November. At that stage Conrad was searching for support for Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen. 

Coetzee and Nandre Burger, who is also back in the team after a spell on the sidelines with a stress fracture, understand there is more competition for places. Codi Yusuf and Corbin Bosch threw their names in the hat in the Test matches against Zimbabwe, while Lungi Ngidi and Kwena Maphaka will be desperate to make an impression too.

“Depth has never negatively affected any team. We want the others to do well and by them doing so we also know we have to lift our own standards. It’s very healthy, it makes us want to work harder, because the other guys won’t let you take their spot. Where we are now is a very good space,” said Coetzee. 

Neither he nor fellow flame-thrower Burger will be taking baby steps upon their returns. “Both of our nature is not to ease into anything. I think we are excited, we love cricket and playing for our country. Regardless of the opposition we both want to do our best.”

The Proteas squad will be led by Rassie van der Dussen and is very much an experimental group that features experienced players like the skipper, Reeza Hendricks and Ngidi, along with plenty of youthful verve from Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Dewald Brevis, Rubin Hermann and Andile Simelane. 

“We want to win every game, it is a young side, with some experience, and this is a building phase, but we have no doubt we can win this series.”

Conrad has said the journey towards the T20 World Cup in India next February starts with the series in Zimbabwe, but Coetzee isn’t looking that far ahead. “Like everyone, I want to be in that squad, but there are so many series’ to be played before then and you want to do well in every series.”

Conrad is not putting any expectations on him yet either. “I think they [the Proteas coaching staff] are just excited for me to be back, and they just want me to do my thing. I know what to expect from myself and if I do that, I’ll be happy and they will be happy.”

South Africa faces the host nation in the opening match at the Harare Sports Club at 1pm on Monday.

SA T20 squad for Zimbabwe Triangular Series

Rassie van der Dussen (capt), Corbin Bosch, Dewald Brevis, Nandre Burger, Gerald Coetzee, Reeza Hendricks, Rubin Hermann, George Linde, Kwena Maphaka, Senuran Muthusamy, Lungi Ngidi, Nqaba Peter, Lhuan-dré Pretorius, Andile Simelane