Why South Africa field so well

Paul Martin Cainer  Johannesburg

Former South African coach Bob Woolmer has revealed some of the secrets of South Africa's fielding prowess. There are some acknowledged great fielders -- even with Jonty Rhodes out of Test cricket, the likes of Gary Kirsten, and when he comes back on January 2, Herschelle Gibbs, can show their wares.

But why is the fielding so consistently good from top to bottom?

Woolmer says he developed a novel technique in the early nineties when he was in his first spell as coach for Warwickshire -- a job to which he has now returned.

"We took a terrible fielder, West Indies paceman Joey Benjamin. He couldn't catch anything, not even a cold! But we trained him to catch with a tennis ball. Since then I've used that technique for every fielder who comes into any of my sides who doesn't catch too well. It works."

The former England and Western Province all-rounder is impressed at how much progress has been made in catching and fielding by Makaya Ntini, the first completely black South African Test cricketer. Ntini was often hidden in the field when he first played for the Proteas, then came his absence from the game while a rape trial continued, and his return in Sharjah earlier this year.

On the first day of the second Test against New Zealand, he took a brilliant catch to dismiss Adam Parore -- an even better effort, says Woolmer, than the one Ntini held to get rid of Mike Atherton, the England opener, a couple of years back.

"Any player who comes into the South African side as a mediocre fielder, ends up as a very good one," Woolmer concludes.

Mail Cricket Editor