South African fast bowler Brett Schultz thrives on competing with his pace partner Allan Donald
Cricket: John Perlman
BRETT SCHULTZ, the story goes, was in the middle of a typically fiery spell against Sri Lanka when Kepler Wessels sent him a message, to be passed along with the ball. It was relayed in Afrikaans so that the batsman – – whose instincts kept ordering his feet to shuffle towards square leg as Schultz barrelled in — would not understand: “Tell Bear to bowl him a fast full-toss on the leg stump.”
The ball and the instruction arrived, then Schultz yelled back to his skipper in English: “If I’m going to bowl him a fast full-toss down leg, shouldn’t we put in a leg slip?”
There are lots of Brett Schultz stories and this one, true or not, seems to confirm the stereotype stuck on South Africa’s left-arm opening bowler: cocky, brash and not very bright. Yet there is more to Schultz than that. Although Bear is clearly more grizzly than teddy, he is no mug. His high school results were good enough to get him a university place in the faculty of commerce.
Two years after he hobbled off the field in Durban with the first of two serious knee injuries, Schultz came blasting back against Zimbabwe, taking four for 54 off 21 overs. His celebrations after having Houghton caught behind were vigorous enough to earn him a referee’s reprimand but it was the wicket of Campbell which gave him the most pleasure. “I just put it in the right place and it just swung away a bit,” he says of the ball that was edged into Dave Richardson’s gloves. “I enjoyed it because it worked exactly as I wanted it to.”
That, says Schultz, is the real joy of bowling fast. “I know bowlers aren’t supposed to be clever but, when you think someone out, that is the greatest.”
Overall he was not satisfied with his Harare return. “Obviously I was happy to get a couple of wickets but I don’t think I bowled that well over the match as a whole [24-7-72-1 in the second innings],” he says. “I had some problem with my footholds and I didn’t feel like I had rhythm. I think it was basically the tension of being in a Test again because back in the nets afterwards things worked brilliantly.
“It’s good to get the first Test behind me. After two years of waiting it was always going to be difficult and I’m glad I came back against Zimbabwe not England.”
But England are next. Bob Woolmer, South Africa’s coach, says Schultz “in tandem with Donald could become one of the most fearsome attacks in world cricket, on a par with Lindwall and Miller, Larwood and Voce. Donald and Schultz: it has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?”
“Allan has a more aggressive attitude going; he looks dangerous and he looks in rhythm,” says Schultz, who adds that he did not ask Donald for help. “We don’t share tips. Basically we compete. If he’s running in from one end and bowls a good bouncer, I try and better that; and he does the same. We are very good mates off the field but we’re rivals on it, although it’s an unspoken thing.”
The English batsmen know Donald well but Schultz is an unknown quantity. “His strength is his strength,” says Woolmer. “He’s as quick if not quicker than Donald. He comes in at an awkward angle and hits the deck very hard.” Late swing? Yorkers? A crafty slow one? “Let them find out,” says Woolmer.
Schultz is aware that he has the advantage of surprise, for the first couple of Tests at least. “Being an unknown quantity is always a good thing,” he says. “But over the five Tests it’s a question of getting on top mentally.” He talks a lot about the mental battles.
Success at cricket came as something of a surprise to Schultz. He was more interested in rugby — at fly-half — and keeping goal for his provincial soccer team at first. “Then, when I was 14, one teacher said that, because I’m left-handed, I should try my hand at bowling,” he says. “I was a little bit quick but all over the place.”
In 1989 he was picked for the South African Schools XI, despite doing little in the trial week, and justified the selectors’ hunch by blasting through a strong Transvaal batting line-up that included Clive Rice.
He made his Test debut in 1992 against India but limped out of the attack, returning inconspicuously later in the series. Even so he was picked to tour Sri Lanka the following year and in the second Test in Colombo he took five wickets in the first innings and four in the second. Four were bowled, five were caught behind and in three Tests on featherbed pitches he took 20 wickets.
Back in South Africa Schultz could hardly wait for the series against Australia. Asked at the time about his punishingly muscular action, he said: “People have said I won’t last until 21; my back will go and my knees will go.” They did. Schultz limped off against Natal at Kingsmead and keyhole surgery on his right knee followed.
Schultz blames his eagerness to get back for his trouble with the referee in Harare. “After such a long lay-off I was more excited to get a wicket than anything else and it was taken completely the wrong way,” he says. “But I am an aggressive player.”
Some people point to two bar-room incidents — one earned him a fine from his province, the other is in the hands of the police — as evidence that Schultz is apt to lose control. But Wessels, who has coached and coaxed him along at Eastern Province and watched his exploits from first slip, says: “The only way Brett will be successful is if he’s got that aggression, though obviously he’s got to keep it in acceptable bounds.”
And when old hands such as Alec Stewart and Robin Smith twig that he has a short fuse? “Oh, he’ll get wound up,” Wessels says. “He’s a young guy and a typical aggressive fast bowler, but that’s part of his development. When he gets wound up he doesn’t start to bowl badly. And he doesn’t care who he’s bowling against. Be it Brian Lara or some unknown, he goes after them the same way.”