To get a little taste of what it’s like to face a Kagiso Rabada or a Dale Steyn, Independent Media’s regional executive editor Gasant Abarder asked Proteas A team coach Vincent Barnes to give him a “trial”.
I’ve been a massive Proteas fan since the team’s reintroduction to the international scene. I find myself defending them more readily than I would the Springboks or Bafana Bafana.
When South Africa participated in its first 50-over World Cup in 1992 in Australasia, I made my dad drive all the way to Brackenfell Hypermarket to get myself a replica shirt. It didn’t matter that they only had it in XXL. My mom, a seamstress, cut it and resized it for my 14-year-old frame.
I’ve been there for the highs and lows. I cried after seeing “22 runs off 1 ball” on the scoreboard in that rain-affected World Cup semi-final against England.
I experienced every exhilarating second of that 438 game at the Wanderers where the Proteas did the impossible against the Aussies. Then there were the shocking revelations of Hansiegate. More recently, it’s been the historic 5-nil ODI series whitewash of the old foe from Down Under.
Recently, my faith in the Proteas has been repaid handsomely. Cricket is sitting pretty at the moment and continues to keep the nation smiling.
It’s no accident and one of the people we have to credit for this sustained success is Vincent Barnes - or Coach Vinnie, as I call him.
Now I have new memories: Kagiso Rabada’s man-of-the-match performance in the first Test in Perth and Temba Bavuma’s stupendous run-out of David Warner.
But I have been fickle too. I, too, have been guilty of yelling at the TV, “Just hit the ball!”, during a crunch moment in a match. It does look easy to the armchair viewer, doesn’t it?
To get a little taste of what it’s like to face a Rabada or a Dale Steyn, I asked Coach Vinnie, South Africa A team coach and high performance manager for Cricket South Africa, to give me a “trial”.
So there we were in the nets at Newlands one Friday morning. Coach Vinnie sent down 12 deliveries to me. First ball: G Abarder b V Barnes (middle stump). Second ball: G Abarder lbw b V Barnes, and so it went on.
It was humbling. Coach Vinnie’s assessment?
“To be brutally honest, I think there are a couple of things Gasant should have prepared himself for.
“Firstly, he’s facing high-class fast bowling. It’s not Mickey Mouse stuff. That’s the first thing he should’ve realised that today; he’s not going to get freebies.
“In his mental preparation, before he went to bed, he should’ve thought, I am facing a guy who is going to bowl at 140km/h plus at me...
“The one thing he does do is, because he knows it’s someone coming at him at 140km/h, he closes his eyes.
“He doesn’t watch the ball, I’ve noticed that. First ball hits the stumps, second ball hits his pad which was plum lbw. Third ball was a bit wider, which he played about a year too late.
“Open your eyes, Gasant. I was actually lenient on you, I only bowled at like 135km/h at you.”
And my ridiculous response?
“But I did get ready for this. Isn’t KFC one of the team sponsors? That’s what I had for breakfast. I thought that was perfect preparation.”
Coach Vinnie hits back: “I don’t think KFC is preparation if you’re going to face Vincent Barnes.”
The truth is that Coach Vinnie, 56, is a great sport for indulging me. (And putting to rest any crazy ambitions I may have harboured about my cricketing prowess).
He is an unsung hero of what is currently unfolding in the national team and is behind the pipeline that has seen the likes of Rabada, Bavuma, Andile Phehlukwayo, Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi burst onto the international scene.
And when an established player is out on form, he’s the man they see for some time in the middle with the A team.
But it’s also the Proteas’ ability to blend form and experience and blooding exciting new talent that deserves high praise.
The players, management and administrators of Cricket SA have embraced transformation in an almost organic way and it works.
Getting top tips from @VincentBarnes50. Get to know the man unearthing new talent for the Proteas in the next @TheCapeArgus #FridayFiles pic.twitter.com/ad2FB6YDDD
— Gasant Abarder (@GasantAbarder) November 9, 2016
Coach Vinnie, with a few collaborators like national academy coach Shukri Conrad and other domestic franchise coaches, have been filling the conveyor belt with these new talents from all over the country.
To understand his expertise, you have to know that Vinnie was part of the national team set-up for eight years as an assistant coach and then a specialist bowling coach.
“I was with the A team in Australia in July and August where we played very good cricket in great facilities against Australia A and India A. If you look at the teams that we played against, India have had six players in their national side now, and a lot of the Australian players played against us here (in the recent ODI series).
“Since then, we’ve had four players from our the A side that have made their debuts for South Africa, most recently Keshav Maharaj in the Perth Test,” said Vinnie.
But most satisfying for me is that we’ve shrugged off that loathed choker label.
“The most impressive thing about the 5-nil ODI series victory recently against Australia was the energy. What I enjoyed about it was the fearlessness, especially the way we batted.
“I’ve been part of the Proteas at two 50 over world cups quite a few T20 world cups. With these young players that are playing now - including AB and Hashim who’ve been around for a long time - there’s a freshness and they’re not scarred by tournaments of the past.
“The biggest factor that you have to overcome when you play in these tournaments is your fear. That fear of failure can cripple you. If you go into any environment and attempt to do anything and there’s this massive fear of failure then you will fail.
“What we see now with the Proteas is they’re not scared to fail. They’ll go in there and play their game. We saw one of the great one-day knocks in that Australia ODI series when David Miller scored a hundred in Durban.
“He was with me in Australia as well and I just asked him: David, what do you think changed? You’ve scored tons of runs now, so what has changed?’
“He told me: I just wanted to bat and spend some time at the wicket and spend a long time at the crease.’ There was no instruction from me about how he should play.
“I try to create an environment where people can perform and express themselves, obviously within a disciplined environment. But that’s what I like to see. I watch Quinny (Quinton de Kock) and I really like watching him bat. He’s at the top of his game right now, scoring tons of runs and he’ll continue to do that. I had him with me last year in the A side doing exactly the same.
Come on @VincentBarnes50 you could have put some pace on the ball. @GasantAbarder https://t.co/CQXPhr7Bbo
— Mathew Quinn (@MatTMQ) November 11, 2016
“You get the guys who want to play in the A side because they need to get back into form. Quinny and David Miller have done that.
“Aaron Phangiso came down to the A side too. There is also the other side with players getting dropped who find themselves in the A side and it’s not always easy to manage them. They come in there with a bit of baggage. “Fortunately, it’s about the performance of the players and they get an opportunity to play against high quality players and an opportunity to get back into the national team.”
Coach Vinnie is a modest guy. I took my son to William Herbert sports ground in Wynberg recently to show him where his old man played soccer as a kid.
The next minute I spot Coach Vinnie running out for Battswood’s over-35s. He scored from the penalty spot and had an assist. He just laughed off his great performance after the game.
Coach Vinnie is a natural sportsman who had what it takes to play cricket for South Africa. He was 32 when we re-entered the international fold and had by then missed the boat as a player.
But his love for the game pushed him to be involved at the highest level. If he couldn’t play, he would help others make a success of their talents.
“I was actually a late starter in cricket. I loved the game but I only started playing when I was about 13 years old. Adeeb Abrahams was my good buddy and took me with him to Victoria Cricket Club where he was playing.
“I joined and I always enjoyed bowling fast when we played cricket in the streets. I was quite naive at the time - I just wanted to bowl fast.
“I started playing in the under 14 side, then under 16, then I was asked to play in the third side, then the second team and by the end of the season I was playing in the first team as a 16-year-old.
“Cricket was a new thing, playing with a lot of the old boys. But I got insight from a lot of people who guided me along my career and it helped grow my awareness.
“Playing as a club cricketer in the old board in the apartheid era, I just enjoyed it as a form of recreation. But I always wanted to be the best at what I was doing - whether it was playing football, cricket or darts, the competitive juices were always flowing. I played a friendly the other day and it was the same thing!”
But Coach Vinnie was all too aware of the cruelty of apartheid South Africa as a schoolboy.
“I went to school at Livingstone High which really opened my eyes politically to the situation the country was in at the time. Although sport was a major part of my life, I had to understand the context.
“I knew I was never going to play for my country so I decided while playing a couple of years overseas to do all my coaching courses in England and went through all the levels. That was just to make sure because I wanted to have a career in cricket and I thought I wanted to make a difference to other people’s careers.
“I played a couple of first-class games for Western Province and quite a number of Benson & Hedges one-day games here at Newlands.
“My love for coaching grew immensely. I started coaching at the age of 25. By the time of unity I was well into my coaching. A few years later I was approached by Duncan Fletcher to apply for a position here, got it and never looked back since.”
Coach Vinnie has worked with the best in the world - from Shaun Pollock, Makhaya Ntini, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Charl Langeveldt to the current crop of players. While he is no longer involved in the national team set-up, much of them credit Coach Vinnie as an integral part of their success. And his current role is perhaps even more important as he prepares the groundwork for continued success for the Proteas by supplying a chain of exciting new players.
“It has been an unbelievable journey. You do travel to some fantastic places and you travel to some pretty average places. I wouldn’t change it for anything.
“If somebody asked me what was the highlight of your coaching and playing career, I’d say my whole life has been a highlight so far.
“I had the privilege of being involved with the Proteas for eight years and coached some of the most amazing fast bowlers, players, human beings - and my job still continues.”
And long may you continue, Coach Vinnie!
* Follow Vincent Barnes on Twitter @VincentBarnes50
* Follow Gasant Abarder on Twitter @GasantAbarder
Cape Argus