It hasn’t always been smooth sailing in the career of the man known as the “Karate Kid” amongst some cricket lovers, owing to his bandanna-wrapped forehead as he enters the playing arena.

While he burst onto the scene for the SA Under-19 side as a 16-year-old and then again in the 2018 Under-19 Cricket World Cup at the age of 17 where he took eight wickets in four matches, regular injuries in the early part of his career at the Knights meant that Gerald Coetzee spent more time off the field than on it.

“All the early career injuries were very tough for me. It was almost a year and a half, two years without cricket. But in a sense, it helped me.

“It made me realise I am not Gerald the cricketer, I am a person who enjoys cricket. My identity doesn’t fall on cricket, it falls on who I am as a person and my relationship with God and my family”.

Gerald also realised that he had to work on strengthening his body to cope with the strenuous task of being a fast bowler.

“I found myself my own (fitness) trainer, Herman Liebenberg. We assessed where my weaknesses were and I took a couple of off-seasons to strengthen the parts of my body that needed strengthening. I trained specifically for what my body needed.”

Gerald has had the opportunity to work with many different coaches, mostly in Bloemfontein where he grew up and played all his cricket. He attended Grey Bloem Primary School and then St. Andrews High School.

His first two coaches were his dad and his brother. At St. Andrews, he was coached by Gregg Hobson, someone he still works with today. Then came the opportunity to work with Allan Donald, something a lot of young players could only dream of.

Dillon du Preez who played for the Knights for many years and has worked with the Proteas Women as an assistant coach, gave up a lot of his time to help Gerald develop.

Most recently he had the opportunity to work with Charl Langeveldt at the Proteas and Eric Simons at the Joburg Super Kings in the SA20.

“I really enjoyed playing in the SA20 with big crowds and a high standard of cricket. I gained a lot of knowledge working with the likes of Stephen Fleming and Albie Morkel, who I grew up watching.

“I think the big crowds helped me going into the test format, just to ease the nerves a bit, but there is nothing quite like Test cricket. It is just something else.”

What likely helped Gerald more than the SA20 before his debut Test series against the West Indies, was going on tour as a part of the Test squad to Australia in December 2022.

“The tour was very good for my development. To have been there with our bowling attack that is one of the best in the world and just to see how they operate, to see the next level and the standard they maintain, was something I needed for my career. I saw how hard Test cricket is and how rewarding it is if you play well and do the right things.”

Gerald got a taste of what it was like, not only through spending time in the environment and bowling in the nets to the Proteas batters, but also playing in the warmup game where he ended up getting a hat-trick to wrap up the Cricket Australia XI after going for a few runs initially. It was just the taste of the international level that Gerald would have wanted.

Back home a lot of changes took place with Rob Walter taking over the reins as coach of the limited overs formats while Shukri Conrad was announced as the new test coach.

Shukri immediately made his intentions clear with where he saw his team heading by announcing a whole host of changes from the squad that had travelled to Australia on that disappointing Test tour.

One of the big calls he made was leaving out Lungi Ngidi in favour of Gerald.

“It’s quite simple for me. I think Gerald needs a good run. We all know the promise that Gerald holds, and now’s as good a time as ever to unleash him”, said Conrad.

Gerald Coetzee certainly didn’t waste time in repaying the faith that Shukri Conrad showed in him.

In the two tests against the West Indies Gerald took nine wickets at an average of 15.88 and a strike rate of 26.6.

He celebrated each wicket with a roar and a double fist pump. He has that same crazy eyes Dale Steyn became known for and Shukri Conrad knew exactly what he was unleashing. 

“Coach Shuks and I have a good relationship. He is very good coach and very specific and true to his own style, which I appreciate. He is likes to focus on you becoming the best cricket player you can be by being yourself and giving you the freedom to express that, which is what I believe most cricketers would like.”

Gerald expressed his desire to play for the Proteas across formats and to be a part of the first South African team to win a World Cup.

He also likes to focus on his batting, which he enjoys, even though he had more success at a younger age than in recent times, where the levels became higher and more difficult to navigate with the bat. 

“With my batting the idea is to just keep working on it. I would really like to be a bowling all-rounder. I see myself there in the middle to lower order eventually, helping the team win by finishing off games.” 

JP Duminy has joined Rob Walter with the limited-overs squad as a batting coach and is someone Gerald feels he will be able to lean on.

“JP is very specific to his style, which I always appreciate. To be working with him and to learn is something I am very much looking forward. Just to be investing into my batting with someone like him, I definitely think it will grow.”