Jansen and Coetzee in better condition as Proteas seek long-term solutions

Too much cricket, coupled with the exorbitant travel required to play all of it, created the need for the “conditioning programmes” that Cricket SA hopes will allow Gerald Coetzee and Marco Jansen to flourish in the 2024/25 season.

The pair of 24-year-olds started Friday night’s first T20 against India, where they were South Africa’s most threatening bowlers. Overall, it was a disappointing match — again — for Aiden Markram’s team, who in matches outside of this year’s World Cup, have won just once. 

The result aside, and barring rustiness, both looked stronger and bowled with high intensity, after their 12-week conditioning block. The real results of that extended time spent lifting weights, running on treadmills and doing laps in the pool will only become apparent at the end of the season. 

“Our expectation is that they perform at the same level or better, and that they can sustain that (level) starting in the T20s with India, then the Tests against Sri Lanka, the full series with Pakistan, the SA20, Champions Trophy, and yes, the IPL,” said CSA’s chief medical officer Dr Hashendra Ramjee.

Following this year’s T20 World Cup, the Proteas medical staff, head coaches and the players determined that Coetzee and Jansen had to complete a meticulously structured programme which focused on strength, endurance and skills development. 

“We almost have a situation where there isn’t a preseason,,” said Ramjee. “We have cricket happening on a continuous basis. And that means from a medical perspective, in conjunction with coaches, we have to change our behaviour in terms of how players are managed.”

It is impossible for modern fast bowlers to prepare in the same way as previous generations like those of Allan Donald, Shaun Pollock and Makhaya Ntini. They gained fitness by bowling — a lot.  “We’re looking at a 12-month calendar and assessing how it can be managed,” said Ramjee.

“I’m not saying it wasn’t the case in the past, but that level of professionalism is taking on a different perspective in terms of how the players evaluate and understand themselves.”

Coetzee and Jansen’s programme was broken into three phases. “Initially the programme entails not bowling,” said Ramjee. 

Unfortunately, it pans out that it looks like players are being prepared for IPL, or other T20 leagues, but in a strange way that even helps with the progression.

—  Dr Hashendra Ramjee, Cricket SA’s chief medical officer 

The first half specifically catered to strengthening areas where the players had suffered consistent injuries. In Coetzee’s case, it was his back, with which he’d struggled even as a junior cricketer.

Having made his international debut last summer, Coetzee had to bear a heavy workload and played at a level of intensity he wasn’t accustomed to. From September to December last year, he played 12 ODIs — eight at the World Cup, in sometimes oppressive heat, finishing as SA’s leading wicket-taker — three T20s and a Test match.

He suffered with pelvic inflammation, which forced him to miss the second Test against India, and then he missed the West Indies Tests with a side strain. From strengthening work, which involved a lot of time in the gym, focus shifted to endurance work. “We introduced higher intensity for all of that, then we tested, which would define how they moved into the next phase,” said Ramjee.

It wasn’t all tortuous. “Obviously there would also be rest periods because we were aware of overloading the player. We’re even wary of a round of golf, which we can classify as an active recovery session.”

Bowling followed after eight weeks, still in combination with the strengthening and endurance programmes, with a specific focus on skills and any technical tinkering that was required. 

Jansen spoke earlier this year about how he worked on changing his wrist position and a few aspects of his batting, specifically how his feet were aligned. 

Another element was psychological, as there is growing awareness around players’ mental health, which is factored into the conditioning programmes for all players, according to Ramjee. “In looking at Gerald and Marco, part of the evaluation for them included asking ‘how valuable is time away from the game?’”

Before the series, Markram stressed that a mental break was vital. “ When you play all formats, mentally it’s quite draining, so to start fresh is a bonus. It also gets the fire in the belly going again,” said the Proteas skipper.

Ramjee is aware there’ll be cynics who’ll claim CSA is just getting the players ready for the IPL, but insists programmes like those Coetzee and Jansen have gone through are for their “well-being”. 

He added: “I’m deliberately not going to use ‘best interest’ — I’m saying well-being. Unfortunately, it looks like players are being prepared for IPL, or other T20 leagues, but in a strange way that even helps with the progression. The T20 load, the intensity is quite high, but the loading is containable, compared to a Test load, which can be unpredictable because it can spike very high based on circumstances.”

It turns out all Coetzee hurt on Friday was his throat — while celebrating his first wicket. “I felt very good, just disappointed with the loss, but grateful to be back,” he said.

Today’s second T20 starts at 4pm in Gqeberha.