Gibbs and De Villiers carry on from where Jonty Rhodes left off

Bat and ball / Andrew Hughes / 06 November 2008 / Leave a comment

Back in the day fielding was a chore that no one wanted to do but times have changed and the South African trio of Jonty Rhodes, Herschelle Gibbs and AB De Villiers have made into an art. Andrew Hughes tells us all about it...

South Africa has an enviable habit of producing great fielders. Even in the days when the wicket-keeper was the only player expected to display any agility in the field, they had some great ones; men like EA 'Barberton' Halliwell who would stand up to fast bowlers with a raw steaks in each glove, Percy Sherwell and the dashing Jock Cameron.

In the 1960s the greatest fielder in the world was undoubtedly Colin Bland. A tall, strong and elegant mover in the covers, the accuracy of his throwing was phenomenal, a talent honed over countless hours hurling a ball at a single stump. At a time when many chaps still preferred not to get their whites dirty, Bland's fielding skills were regarded with awe and crowds often gathered to watch him put on impromptu demonstrations.

Following readmission in 1992, another South African took the art of fielding to even greater heights. Jonty Rhodes, the short, stocky, garrulous jack in the box from Pietermaritzburg found early on that his batting was not enough to guarantee him a place in any side and so worked tirelessly on mastering the craft of close fielding. His throwing was the equal of Bland's and thanks to his years of playing hockey, he had the ability to bend down to the ball and throw down the stumps on the run.

He changed the nature of cover fielding from a defensive art to an attacking one. Before the ball was bowled, he would hare in from cover, narrowing the batsman's angle, daring him to chance a single. And at a time when backward point was becoming the more important position, his sharp reflexes enabled him to excel there too, flinging himself about to pull off all manner of unfeasible stops. It was said of Rhodes, as it was of Bland, that he was worth his place in the team as a fielder alone, saving South Africa hundreds of runs over the course of his international career.

Though a hard act to follow, his mantle has been taken up by Herschelle Gibbs and more recently, A B De Villiers. Gibbs was given the honour of taking over Rhodes's familiar position at backward point and has distinguished himself there, pulling off some stunning catches and exhibiting Rhodes-like reactions. His role though is primarily a defensive one and it is possible that De Villiers is the more complete fielder, displaying both the reflexes you would expect of a part-time wicket-keeper and lightning speed in the covers.

There have been suggestions that with Gibbs gone from the Test side and De Villiers slated to replace Mark Boucher behind the stumps South Africa might lose their edge in the field. But this seems unlikely. That their tradition of being at the forefront of world fielding excellence survived the long exile from Test cricket indicated that it was something innate to the South African cricketing system.

Whilst other countries periodically make efforts to improve their fielding, they are often going against the grain of the cricket culture. Yet South Africa, like Australia, seems to produce youngsters who relish this aspect of the game, rather than regarding it as a chore. Even ordinary fielders, such as Makaya Ntini, find their standards improved markedly once they reach the national team. And with Jonty Rhodes working as a fielding coach with the national side, expect South African standards to be maintained for some time to come.

In fact December's series against Australia promises to be something of a fielding master class. Before that, however, the Proteas have a gentle warm up against Bangladesh. They comfortably disposed of Mohammed Ashraful's side in the Twenty20 game on Wednesday and are likely to be as short as [1.15] to win the first of three one day games at Potchefstroom on Friday. If you're feeling adventurous, you should be able to back the Bangladeshis at [7.0] or even higher.

That man AB De Villiers is available at around [6.0] to top-score for Graeme Smith's men but we will be deprived of the opportunity of watching Herschelle Gibbs' flamboyant batting and all-action fielding after he was dropped for the whole ODI Series after breaking the team curfew in a drinking-related incident.