Neil Manthorp Cricket
The stomach churns, the vision blurs periodically, the fear of a failure so instant, and finite, paralyses the instincts and movements that have been second nature for years. Very few men, at any senior level, have opened the batting without experiencing these emotions. Many have suffered worse. It is quite possible to select a World XI of pre-match vomiters. Not pretty, but true.
Pity Adam Bacher, who is out of the third Test, his bruised shoulder stiffening after a net practice on Monday, leaving him unable to bat on Tuesday. An opener unable to practise 48 hours before a test match is a handicap to tempt no punter worth two bob.
Bacher admits to nerves, as does Gary Kirsten. The third specialist, Gerhardus Liebenberg, suffers a little more than most. Actually, he suffers quite badly.
His performance in the first Test at Edgbaston prompted some unkind comments from the hundreds of former test players that now swarm around, and in, press and commentary boxes the world over.
“What the bluddy ‘ells ‘e doin’ ‘ere, ‘ow did ‘e get on’t’ plane?” asked one non- too-subtle former England opener (who was the greatest of all time – just ask him. Sorry, “‘im”). Liebenberg’s technique looked non-existent in the 15 balls that he faced for his three runs. His feet moved with the certainty of an elephant on a raft and his bat looked as heavy and as thin as lead piping.
Liebenberg, known on these shores as Gerry, had frozen. His nerves had contorted into a gristly knot, leaving him at the mercy of Dominic Cork’s seam movement.
It was just a question of time. On the face of it, no player deserves to be dropped after a single Test – never mind a single innings – but that is what happened to Gerry when Bacher took over at Lord’s.
Strangely, the question was hardly asked. And Bob Woolmer and Hansie Cronje certainly weren’t about to volunteer information about the Free State captain’s summary dismissal from the team.
The thing is, when senior players, coaches and captains see a team-mate freeze, they know it makes absolutely no difference whether he can play or not. He becomes a sacrifice, a generous offering to the opposition bowlers to get them started.
Statistics confirm the fact that Liebenberg is a nervous starter. But the frequency with which he scores a century compares favourably. So he makes a lot of early exits, but is pretty good at cashing in once he gets over the shakes and heart palpitations. That explains his poor first- class average.
So, Bacher unfit. What now? The list of options available to South Africa as partner to Kirsten is longer than you might think:
Needless to say, the higher one bats means more chances to score hundreds, but Liebenberg’s average reveals the unusually high number of cheap failures.
Option one is to bat Brian McMillan at three and move Jacques Kallis up to open. Kallis is a team man and will accept anything in the interests of team strength. No doubt he will be assured that it is a temporary move and that he will be restored to number three as soon as possible.
But should he endure a double failure in the position, his confidence will be affected badly and the progress he has had made in establishing himself, already taking longer than was hoped, could be set back again.
McMillan to open? Kirsten strongly favours the use of a specialist as his partner and would prefer a return for Liebenberg in the hope that, with some luck, he would overcome nerves and settle.
Otherwise Cullinan, or even Cronje, could move up the order making space for McMillan in his (very obviously) favoured slot at number five.
If only Liebenberg could settle those damn nerves! And some people still scoff at Woolmer’s advocated use of a psychologist .
Kirsten explains his own emotions before a test: “I’m as nervous as anybody. I’m all churned up, numb with nerves. I shake my head to clear it, I shake my arms and legs to try and get them moving, to get the nerves out and make them feel strong. As I walk out of the pavilion I’m in no shape, but as soon as my feet touch grass it all changes. The nerves become adrenalin and I’m completely focused.
If Liebenberg does play, perhaps he should have a word with Mike Rindel, whose transition from middle order to opener, in both one-day and first-class cricket, has been entirely successful. But the duck was paddling frantically beneath the hard- hitting, serene surface.
“I was so nervous the first time I walked out to open the innings for South Africa that I just thought: `I’ve got no chance, I can hardly stand up! I might as well play a few shots because otherwise I’ll just scratch around, look terrible and make a duck!”
Once Rindel had made good contact with a couple of deliveries, his nerves were gone.
The final selection will be one of the hottest debates in a tour selection meeting for years.
There are certainly three different points of view among the five-man group comprising Woolmer, Cronje, Kirsten, Allan Donald and Mike Procter (standing in for Peter Pollock).
They will do well to remember that stop- gaps don’t work. And they might well be surprised by the response they get from a man who believed his international career was over after the first Test. An unexpected second chance is rarely spurned.