South Africa's Fielding

Something needs to be done about the state of the Proteas' fielding, so here's an idea.

I didn't watch a lot of Jonty Rhodes when I was growing up, but what I do remember about him is that even if he had been a terrible batter, he would have made the Proteas squad on the strength of his fielding. Yes, he was that brilliant. Anyone who has watched Jonty Rhodes fielding, even in one match, will tell you that he is the best to ever do it.

And I agree with them because in my mind watching Jonty Rhodes fielding was like watching a highlights reel.

A friend of mine remembers him executing a 2-metre sideways dive at point to dismiss Matthew Hayden. I haven't found the YouTube video for it yet, but he swears that his father will collaborate the story.

Rhodes did not just take amazing catches, he also instigated some of the best run outs the game has ever seen. A clever batter knew not to take chances against him. With his quality fielding, Jonty Rhodes gave the Proteas an added advantage because he made the batters doubt their shots. That is all you need, for the batter to think, to worry, to doubt. A worrying batter is a batter in trouble.

Rhodes made fielding cool before T20 made it cool. He turned fielding into an art, and he approached it like no other player.

They don't make them like Jonty Rhodes anymore. In fact, they stopped doing so a long time ago. But even then, South Africa has consistently produced top quality fielders. So much so that it is possible that no other country has produced as many top fielders as the Proteas.

For years South Africa has behaved like a hotbed for exceptional fielders. No wonder the Proteas have been one of the best fielding sides in international cricket for a long time. This is also the reason why I understand everyone's frustration with the Proteas' fielding at the moment. Their fielding is just difficult to reconcile with a country that was recently either the best or second best fielding side in international cricket. They just don't look like they are the country that has spawned the likes of Rhodes, Gibbs and De Villiers.

I am not saying they do not have top fielders in the team, they do: Miller, Bavuma, Markram, Elgar... There is a pretty decent list if you want to count them all. But they just do not act like it. You would be forgiven if you thought the team had more fielders in the mold of Muralitharan or Inzamam Ul-Haq than the Millers and the Bavumas of this world.

You see, there was a time when South Africa routinely saved between 25 to 30 runs because of good fielding. These days teams generally gain just as many runs or more because of average fielding. In the past few years, if the Proteas have been consistent in any area, it has been in how badly they have been fielding.

Diagnosing for reasons why things are the way they are is easy, pointing fingers is one of the easiest things one can do. There are a number of possibilities that immediately come to mind, like, maybe it has something to do with team culture. Because unlike batting and bowling, fielding is less individual and is the most team activity on the field.

Another reason could be the standards. You see, team behavior is not defined by the high ideals and the great mottos that the team has. It is not defined by the lofty standards and goals that the team has set up. Instead, it is defined by the worst behavior the team is willing to tolerate. Teams always fall to the lowest standard that is acceptable within the team.

There a lot more possibilities than the ones that I have chosen to name, and a lot of them are based on what we assume, not what we know. But, whatever those reasons are, a solution is needed in the short term.

Now, I am sure that like fans and commentators the team and coaches also do discuss these fielding errors at length. Maybe they even watch clip after clip of mistakes, highlighting the errors that they need to avoid before going out to field. This is very good if these clips are part of the training, if players are identifying weaknesses they need help with.

During the series against Pakistan stand-in captain Heinrich Klaasen highlighted that at training the guys perform very well, but somehow they fail to replicate that on the field. Something needs to be done.

Well, here is an idea. Maybe they should not discuss the mistakes to avoid before the match. Maybe they should watch videos of the times when they field very well. If they don't have them, then maybe they must watch videos of great fielding by their predecessors just before taking to the field.

Watching a video of themselves performing very well in the field boosts players' testosterone levels. A 2009 study on hockey players showed that when athletes watch a video of themselves performing well, their testosterone levels shoot up by up to 44%. This is good because athletes with higher testosterone levels perform better than those with lower testosterone levels. Higher testosterone levels are linked to motivation, risk-taking, aggression, improved reaction times, enhanced aspects of spatial ability and increased muscle metabolic rate of muscles.

All of this means improved performance.

The other side of this coin is that when coaches spend time highlighting the bad things that players do or if the players are shown videos of a defeat or great focus is placed on the mistakes they made, their testosterone levels fall and the stress hormone, cortisol, rises. Cortisol makes them feel anxious and nervous, and this leads to bad performance.

Players trying to perform at their best with high levels of cortisol is like trying to drive a car at full speed with handbrake on. It just doesn’t work.

There is another experiment that was done with rugby players. In the 3-part study, rugby players watched a video with their coaches two hours before a match. First, coach pointed out the mistakes they had made and gave advice on how to avoid them. Then in other instance, the coach highlighted the areas where they had done well and emphasized on the need for more of that. During the times when the coaches pointed out the positives, the players' testosterone levels rose and were significantly higher than their cortisol levels.

On the other hand, when the coach pointed out the negatives, their testosterone remained unchanged as when they entered the room. However, their cortisol levels rose by over 20%.

But, this is not all. Their performance on the field was also very different, indicating the influence of either hormone. Like the hockey players, the ones with higher testosterone performed better than those with higher cortisol levels. Our behaviors and performance is very dependent on the hormone that is more active within us. That is our nature as human beings.

Sometimes that’s all they need, the right type priming, optimum motivation. The coaches and captains have said that they do not understand the on field performances given the fact that they all do so well at training. But, priming and motivation will not be of any use if the training drills are of a lower standard and intensity to that required at international level. So, if they have the right drills and perform them well, then the last piece of the puzzle is motivation.

The right type of motivation can go a long way in not only getting a team to perform better, but to also create a strong culture and set even higher standards. And, maybe none of the current Proteas players will ever get to Rhodes' levels of ability, but with the right motivation, they can approach their fielding with the same levels of dedication. And that might be the difference between good and bad fielding.

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