The Making of the Fab Four

Character, technique, patience. Robin Peterson, Enoch Nkwe and Prasanna Agoram take us through the making of the Fab Four, writes Ongama Gcwabe.

The Proteas recently concluded an emphatic victory at the Home of Cricket against a strong England side. It took them a little over two days to wrap up the series opener by an innings and 12 runs.

Once more, it was the bowlers who did the magic for captain Dean Elgar. The first session on Day 1 had fans around the world and I buzzing with excitement as Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje and Marco Jansen produced one of the best bowling performances in world cricket at the moment.

“Bra yam I’m jumping up and down here like crazy, getting hyped up with this bowling it’s exciting to watch wish was playing. 🤣 Big boys” said The Rocks’ quick Bamanye Xenxe in a WhatsApp chat.

Opening the bowling, KG was fast, accurate and lethal while a fitter Ngidi kept the batters quiet at the other end. Ana and Plank brought a different threat to the Englishmen. They brought pace and swing respectively.

“It all boils down to character. It’s something that’s very very unique. They want it. They really want to become the best,” said CSA DOC Enoch Nkwe of the bowlers.

It was easy to see the hunger to win in the bowlers’ eyes. They were on a hunt last week and came back successful with 18 of the 20 England wickets shared amongst the Fab Four. This is not the first time South Africa has produced an exciting bowling group, but perhaps it is the first time in what feels like a long time for the pace-spoilt Proteas fan base.

“When I joined the Proteas in 2010, the fast bowling unit was in absolutely safe hands. There was Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel leading the attack, and I was privileged to see the debut of Vernon Philander in that historic Test match in 2011 in Cape Town where the powerful Australian side was bundled out in 18 overs in an hour and a half,” said former Proteas Performance Analyst Prasanna Agoram.

“Then there was Lonwabo Tsotsobe who rose to number one in ODI rankings in 2012. Then came Marchant de Lange and Kyle Abbott. So you can see that South Africa has always had excellent talent coming through.

“We had that Fab Four in the past in Dale Steyn, Kagiso Rabada, Vernon Philander and Morkel Morkel. It was a dream to watch them operating in tandem in a Test match against India in Cape Town in 2017/18.

“I see that the new generation has grown and has developed the same blueprint. But now KG is the leader of the attack, Lungi is the guy who always picks up wickets when the captain needs him, Nortje who purely bowls fast and finally Jansen who brings the variety of a left-arm seamer in the attack. I can safely say this is the best bowling attack in the world, with Keshav Maharaj included.”

Marco Jansen came into the side as a replacement fast bowler for an injured Anrich Nortje last summer in a big series against India. At 21, Jansen impressed with not only his skill set but his maturity. He is almost unfazed by the occasion or the calibre of the opposition players.

“Marco is a special talent and as a coach, there’s not too much you can teach him in terms of his skill set. I guess what I was able to lead him to discover on his own was the importance of being patient,” said his domestic coach, Robin Peterson, who brought “Plank” down to PE last year to join the Warriors.

“The way we coach here at the Warriors is not to enforce anything on the players. It’s not a ‘my way or the highway’ type of coaching. We try and lead players to understand on their own what they need to develop in order for them to get to the next level.

“That’s what we did with Marco. That’s why he got on the international stage and performed. He understood that he needed to bowl mature spells and he needed to develop patiencece to go with the skills he’s got. The same coaching technique is what I feel made Stubbo (Tristan Stubbs) perform at the highest level as well,” said Petersen.

What makes this attack so good?

Nkwe reckons it is the character these bowlers possess that makes them such a formidable attack.

“I go way back with KG. From the days I used to coach U19s at Gauteng Cricket. From a physical, mental and emotional intelligence point of view, we could just see that he was destined for big things. We used to have conversations about how to become a champion and he’s mastered those things we talked about,” said Nkwe.

“Ana’s style is a bit more flatter as compared to the other guys. We saw genuine pace back in 2019 when we picked him to make his Test debut in India. It was not only because of the conditions in India, it was more around the future that we saw him having at this level. We started talking mid-term to long-term plans and how he’s going to impact at Proteas level. We knew we could work with him and get him to be a finished product.

“It’s a character thing. At first, he was a bit shy and was holding back a bit. But we encouraged him to be himself and look how he has matured in Test cricket in the last 2 years or so. You can see he is just ruthless now. The exposure to international cricket has been massive for him. We always knew he has the character to compete at that level and actually dominate.

“All three of them have that character. It’s about finding better ways to complement that character. The skill will continue to grow but the one thing that stands out about these guys is their character. The willingness to continue to grow to become the best, the work ethic and the discipline on the field.

“There’s so much that goes into them being the best. From a physical point of view, there’s just a lot they do to become the best. It’s tough if you looking at scheduling as well.

“But I must say that their commitment to being the best is massive. The way they are wired mentally is impressive. They’re champions. Those are some of the things we picked up from the early stages. They’re such a formidable attack.”

Former Proteas performance analyst, Prasanna Agoram, highlights the importance of basics and technique in this bowling group’s success in the first Test.

“Fast bowling is the toughest art to master in cricket. The most important thing is to master biomechanics or to get your technique right. Someone like Steyn had a flawless action which led him to have a long and successful career. When Kagiso Rabada came in, luckily he had a flawless action. All his injuries are due to excessive workloads,” said Agoram.

“Someone like Lungi Ngidi was absolutely impressive in that he is a tall and strong fast bowler. Even though he’s not express pace like Rabada, he still had bounce and he’s a clever customer. I remember Ottis Gibson came to me and told me Ngidi is going to be making his debut in the second Test against India in 2018. I had no doubt that Lungi was going to perform because he also has a flawless action.

“When I made a statement in 2019 when Anrich made his Test debut in India I said: ‘this guy is going to be the best fast bowler in the world. Watch out for this guys, he is fast and he is coming.’

“Many people laughed at me because he had ordinary returns in the Test match in Ranchi. Many people told me that I make my decisions too early. Now Anrich Nortje has sorted out his technical issue and has come back from injury and is back to normal.

“The first time I saw Ana was when we played a Test match against Australia in PE in 2018. The Test match where the famous Rabada–Steve Smith incident happened. Hashim Amla was batting at the nets. One strong, tall guy whom I’d never seen was rushing Hashim left, right and centre and even hit him on the chest,” he concluded.

The series moves over to Old Trafford for the second of the three-Test series. Can the Fab Four repeat last week’s performance?

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