More the merrier for South Africa

Rohit Mahajan

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Melbourne, February 19

“Ek moet 'n drankie!” said AB de Villiers, the South African captain, as he batted in the nets today. A South African fan, who happened to be at hand, translated it for us thus: “I need a drink!”

De Villiers was possibly referring to water -- but he was probably referring to a glass of chilled beer. Melbourne was hot today. The chill in the air of yesterday was gone, the sun was intense, and people were going around with white faces, due to the liberal use of the sunscreen.

De Villiers may have craved a drink even as he batted, but he didn’t shirk practice, and neither did his teammates during an intense, three-hour session at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

The South Africans, coached and mentored by some very high-profile cricketers, prepared for Sunday’s match against India. One of them, the great fast bowler Allan Donald, looked after the pacers. The second, Gary Kirsten, focussed on preparing the batsmen by throwing the ball at them from mid-pitch, especially Hashim Amla. The third, former Australian star Mike Hussey, worked with the batsmen, and also strategised with the other two coaches.

And none of these is actually the South African head coach, of course -- he’s a rather anonymous fellow by the name of Russell Domingo.

Donald, Kirsten and Hussey have played a total of 824 international matches. Another man on the staff, Charl Langeveldt, has played 87 internationals for South Africa. Domingo did not play a single first-class game. There’s no record available of him playing any serious cricket. At 20, he figured out that he was not up to the mark. He became a preacher of the game, as it were -- at 22 he qualified to coach. In 2013, he took over as national coach from Kirsten.

Domingo, 40, has done quite well since he became coach -- there’s has been no major trouble or crisis, and he’s had the benefit of working with some great players. Hussey has been roped in as a consultant to help the South Africans with his knowledge of the local conditions.

Domingo, while not sounding in awe of Kirsten and Hussey, spoke words that were nothing short of reverential when he discussed their roles. Talking well of teammates in public is the norm, it could be argued; Domingo, though, with zero playing experience of any significance, really did sound impressed by the efforts of these two men. Especially Hussey, who’s a World Cup winner for Australia. There’s no one winner of the World Cup in South Africa. Domingo emphasised that Hussey being a World Cup winner is a special boost to the team. “I think just Hussey’s presence alone is a big plus for us,” Domingo said today. “He is a guy who has won a World Cup as a player, he has been in pressure situations in Australia.”

Domingo was simply warming up to the theme, for he continued in gushing tones: “He has played under these conditions for a long period of time. He is known as a very thoughtful cricketer, he plans meticulously about his own personal game and hopefully some of the things that he has learnt playing in competitions like this he can pass on to some of our players, whether it is in the mental preparation, whether it is in the tactical strategy when going out to bat under pressure, whether it is just thinking under certain conditions.”

3 legends and the coach

“The most important thing about those two consultants (Hussey and Kirsten) we have brought in is their personalities,” he added. “They are really good people, they come across really well. They are respectful of the space that they are working in and don’t try to flood information into the players. Hussey is an experienced player, he knows what you would expect from a coach. Gary is an experienced coach, he has been with the side for a long period of time.”

Domingo seems happy with the piecemeal arrangement of the roles of the three major strategists. He’s probably also happy that he’s remained in charge overall in deciding strategy and methods. He was glad that Kirsten knows “when to give some information and when not to give some information”. They’ve discussed their roles and ensured there would be no duplication of effort or stepping on toes.

“We have had informal discussions about how we would like to go about the business and they are very comfortable in the space and understand what input they feel they need to give,” said Domingo.

Towards the end of the session today, Kirsten, Hussey and Donald were forced to smile as, with no warning and in a very loud voice, a fan started shouting: “India, India!!”

The heavy presence of India, with its media and its heckling fans, is a bit disconcerting to most opponents. Against a strong outfit like South Africa, who have won all three of their World Cup games against India, it becomes an irritant. Domingo hinted as much when he said: “We are not seeing it as a highly profiled game.”

In other words, South Africa’s intensity of training is business as usual. They fear nothing -- now will someone bring on that beer!