Want to see hope for the Proteas? Go to Bloemfontein

“You can put this on the record. I don’t mind creating the hype. I can tell you now with the utmost certainty that Gerald Coetzee is the next big thing in South African cricket. This young man is going to be huge.”

Knights captain Pite van Biljon is not the type of guy that borrows cliches from Donald Trump, but it’s clear he can’t contain his excitement when he’s asked about the rookies that have lit up the central franchise’s start to this season’s 4-day Franchise series.

19-year-old Coetzee has indeed been a revelation, showcasing all his potential as an accomplished bowling all-rounder since making his first-class debut against the Warriors last month.

17 wickets at an average of 24.70 is rendered all the more impressive given that all those wickets have been taken on hard, fairly lifeless surfaces in Bloemfontein and Kimberley.

To supplement that harvest of wickets, he also boasts a current batting average of 63, which includes an unbeaten 59 against the Titans last week.

“Gerald’s an absolute machince,” said Van Biljon.

“He literally does it all. When I ask him to attack, he’ll up his pace. When the ball begins to lose a bit of shine and the opposition batsmen have settled in a bit, I can ask him to play more of a containment role.

“He doesn’t want to be pigeonholed. He wants to be a go-to guy.”

However, Coetzee – a proper homegrown talent hailing from local powerhouse St Andrew’s in the City of Roses – might already be giving conditioning specialists a few heart palpitations.

“The physical workload he’s willing to burden is astounding. Gerald just wants to bowl. To be honest, I don’t mind granting him that wish,” said Van Biljon.

“At the moment, we feel all the overs are good for him. He’s learning and doing so quickly, but I realise we’ll have to start managing him at some stage.”

Within four weeks of playing first-class cricket, Coetzee has completed 148 overs – that translates into 888 balls bowled.

Only his teammate Shaun von Berg (189), a leg-spinner, has sent down more.

“He’s going to be a great player.”

Coetzee’s rise is part of the broader theme of the Knights’ new season.

Despite being one of the most successful outfits in the history of franchise cricket with eight titles since 2004, this decade has seen them being labelled “unfashionable”, a well-organised team that generally punches above its weight.

They’ve had some isolated stars in the past few years – David Miller, Duanne Olivier, Reeza Hendricks, Marchant de Lange and Theunis de Bruyn – but recruiting and retaining players of this magnitude has become increasingly difficult in a constrained economic environment.

So the Knights decided to change direction, and follow a model that has served the Lions so well in rugby: if you can’t become the Hollywood team of South Africa, become the hotbed of upcoming talent.

They already had Coetzee and former national Under-19 skipper Raynard ‘Razor’ van Tonder, the supremely gifted opener from Grey College, in the system.

And as the Highveld Lions grappled with balancing their wealth of talent, the Knights came swooping in to snap up the Jansen twins, Marco and Duan (both 19)  from Potch Gimnasium.

The logic behind these moves are close to bulletproof – the best youngsters will score runs and take wickets just as regularly as expensive, seasoned veterans.

Marco Jansen of the VKB Knights during day 2 of the CSA 4 Day Series match between VKB Knights and Warriors at Diamond Oval on October 08, 2019 in Kimberley, South Africa. (Photo by Louis Botha/Gallo Images)

“That was the plan, yes,” said Van Biljon.

“We sat around a table at the conclusion of last season and realised that there’s an opportunity for us to box cleverly on the contracting department. We knew we had two of the most exciting youngsters in South Africa within our provincial border and also realised we had a good chance of getting the Jansen brothers.

“But it’s not only about their talent. At that age, you can also cultivate loyalty from them and expose them to our team culture early. That’s the most important consideration. We came up with the type of culture we want to stand for and getting these guys involved early allows us to let them take the lead for years to come.”

Van Tonder has blossomed too, piling up 546 runs at an average of 109.20 to be the leading run scorer in this season’s competition to date.

Raynard van Tonder of the VKB Knights during day 2 of the CSA 4 Day Series match between VKB Knights and Multiply Titans at Mangaung Oval on October 29, 2019 in Bloemfontein, South Africa. (Photo by Johan Pretorius/Gallo Images)

That includes big hundreds of 204 and 165.

“I suppose that proves the point. Instead of trying to spend money, you have this youngster that does the job for you,” said Van Biljon.

“I love playing against these rookies. They set he benchmark for me (as 33-year-old). I want to keep up with them, they shouldn’t be keeping up with me.”

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