Paul Adams came on to the scene with a bang last year, but he has not been so explosive in England
CRICKET: Barney Spender
A YEAR ago the South African schools’ team was touring England. At home, left to rue the selectors’ decision that he was little more than a circus act, was Paul Adams.
As we now know, the cheeky chappy from the Cape Flats did not allow that to put him off. And nor did Western Province. The start of the new domestic season saw a rapid rise for Adams as his Chinamen cast a web of intrigue around provincial and international batsmen alike.
His contributions helped South Africa A to beat England in Kimberley and also added to South Africa’s series win as well as Western Province’s success in the Castle Cup.
His first appearance in Castle Cup cricket brought a memorable soubriquet as one luminary of the South African press corps choked on his early Centurion Park lunch and proclaimed loudly that Adams had an action like a “frog in a blender”. It was a tag which has stuck with him and even made The Times (of London) quotes of the sporting year at Christmas.
It was, we thought, the birth of a legend, our very own Shane Warne — with knobs on. It may still have been the birth of a legend, only time will tell that. And Adams certainly had a useful, if unspectacular, start in the unforgiving arena of Test cricket.
But now the jury is out and the questions are being asked. Is he as good as we first thought? And, perhaps more crucially, is his body going to allow the frog to blend for more than a couple of hard seasons at the top?
The second matter needs most immediate attention. The management of the current South Africa A tour to England, of which Adams is a member, made early noises about shin splints and the need not to overbowl young “Gogga”. The manager Goolam Rajah described the problem as “growing pains” and reminded us all that the wee fella is only 19.
And yet, having been left out of the match against Somerset at Taunton, Adams fielded gamely for all but the first 14 overs of the match when he took over from the stricken Roger Telemachus. The layman’s view was that he might just as well have been in the starting line-up.
Adams tends to shrug his shoulders and smile cheerily when asked about his shins. “I had a bit of a problem with them at the academy but basically it’s been all right. It’s just a question of resting them.”
Apart from the shins, though, eyebrows have raised in England about how a young bowler with seemingly little control on line and length could have embarrassed England so much in South Africa and then performed so well at the World Cup.
Because thus far on tour, Adams has caused little threat to the lengthy list of county second XI batsmen that he has come up against. He took 4-116 against Yorkshire in the opening game and has picked up wickets since then. But he has never threatened to run through a side in the way he did every time he bowled in South Africa.
The Cape Flats word fadalla, meaning a heavy beating, creeps into conversation as he talks about his experience so far on English pitches. It’s one thing you notice about Adams along with his almost constant smile and schoolboyish fits of giggles, his occasional tendency to slip into the vernacular.
“English pitches are a lot slower and a lot more variable in pace than at home. The first time I bowled on them the batsmen just sat back and waited on the back foot for it. But you have to learn quickly, especially if they are smacking you around. But it’s a question of getting the right line, length and, maybe most important, speed.”
It is a learning process for the prodigy both on the field and off it. Before making it into the national team set-up, Adams’ only trip outside South Africa had been to Tanzania, and even that was with a development side.
Since his call to colours he has been to Pakistan for the World Cup and now England with the A team. “It was like a dream season last year although everything happened very quickly. But it was fantastic.”
Adams shared a memorable 10th wicket partnership to help South Africa to a series-winning Test victory in Cape Town against England and then played his part in the World Cup campaign.
“Pakistan was a huge difference. We stayed in the hotel most of the time, practised in the morning and then just lay around the hotel in the afternoon. There was nothing else to do. My first game against Pakistan was unbelievable. There was something like 60 000 people there and I just couldn’t believe the noise. And standing on the field, you could feel the vibrations from the crowd up in the stands.”
One reason perhaps why Adams has not shone on this tour is simply that the pressure is off. He has come to learn, and with the counties fielding weak sides the challenge has been lacking. In fact, the bowlers, as a rule, have not faced genuine pressure in the field since they arrived.
In some ways it is part of the Adams growing process as well and he admits that touring with friends like Herschelle Gibbs and HD Ackerman, both from Western Province and both more or less the same age, has been a lot less daunting than going to the World Cup with established Test stars, most of whom are a decade older and wiser.
And as for the frog in the blender, Adams remains in no doubt that it will be on show again in all its glory when the new domestic season gets under way. “To me it’s like a natural action and it’s an action which has worked for me. So I don’t mind the nicknames, not at all.”