Swapping Dale Steyn for Roger Federer, how Nandre Burger became South Africa cricket’s ‘next big thing’

Neil Levenson couldn’t contain his excitement. The year was 2014 and the cricket coach at the University of the Witwatersrand (WITS) in Johannesburg thought he’d just seen the future of South Africa’s pace bowling. He recognised that there was still a lot to work on – technical stuff such as the alignment from the landing foot to the release point – but all of that didn’t matter. The coach had seen enough – in one nets session – to be firm in his belief. And so, he made it known to the boy himself. “You could play professional cricket and bowl at 140kph.” There was however one tiny matter of concern.

Nandre Burger didn’t want to become a professional cricketer. The sport for him had been more of a pastime at WITS, while he pursued a degree in sports psychology. Playing what little club cricket he had until that point of time was a soothing comfort after his short romance with Tennis. Harboring ambitions to be on the ATP tour, teenage Nandre would litter the YouTube with searches of Roger Federer’s play compilations. With that and the coaches at his high school, Nandre had developed a nigh unplayable serve. However, it would be the unbecoming of his five-year obsession as the 15-year-old started developing back spasms and was forced into quitting the racquet sport.

Cricket hadn’t been completely out of the picture. Growing up in Krugersdorp, a mining city in the Gauteng province, Nandre’s initiation into it had been via the makeshift wooden stick and foil paper ball contests with his mother and granny. He’d played some amount of club cricket as well up until that nets session at WITS. But a future in which he played professional cricket and bowled 140kph just seemed too far off the grid when Levenson suggested so.

India’s batsman Ravichandran Ashwin, left, watches on as South Africa’s bowler Nandre Burger celebrates after dismissing him for a duck during the third day of the Test cricket match between South Africa and India, at Centurion Park, in Centurion, on the outskirts of Pretoria, South Africa, Thursday, Dec. 28, 2023. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

“I was very excited,” the coach stresses as he recalls his first meeting with the ‘raw’ left-armer. “He had a lot of ability in the start. It just needed to be organized a bit better and be worked really hard at,” Levinson tells The Indian Express.

It took almost a decade’s time but Levenson’s bet has finally come good and how. In less than three weeks time, Nandre Burger has gone on to debut across all formats for the Proteas, and earned himself a first IPL contract with Rajasthan Royals. His most recent exploits – seven wickets on a Boxing Day Test debut – was the moment of catharsis that both Levenson and Nandre had been working towards since that exchange at the WITS nets.

“From seeing him that first day all those years ago to seeing him sprint and do his thing (in Centurion) was incredibly satisfying. He’s now getting the fruits of his toil,” says Levenson.

Burger’s memory of the first meeting with Levinson is more vivid. “I remember he slapped his forehead with his hand and told me, “you have so many bad habits you have to unlearn,” Burger told Cricket Fanatics magazine. When the two first met, Nandre had been at best “bowling late 120s and early 130s.” Levenson knew he had to slow cook the 19-year-old to forge the speedster out of him. It took two years before Nandre hit the first of their targets – consistently bowling 135 kph. But an even bigger priority, Levenson stresses, was to ensure that his pupil got used to his own bowling action and alignment.

South Africa’s Nandre Burger celebrates after dismissing India’s Ruturaj Gaikwad for 4 runs during the second One Day International cricket match between South Africa and India, at the St George’s Park in Gqeberha, South Africa, Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

“From a timing point of view, the action didn’t work as efficiently as it does now. And the alignment was a big thing. He tended to push the ball a lot getting over his front leg, bracing it consistently while getting through the crease.” Levenson shares.

The left-armer’s curse sorted by jugaad

Alignment as a whole was bound to be an issue given Nandre choice of bowling arm, his coach reckons.

“A lot of the times left-arm quicks tend to line up almost as if they’re bowling to a left-hand batter,” Levenson explains. “When they’re bowling to the right handers, it’s difficult for their body to get through – to activate the hips and get over their front leg. So a lot of the alignment in terms of in the crease, run up and where his body is – from where he takes off to when he is in the crease – is very important. It’s easier for right-hand bowlers, the majority of your life you bowl to right-handed batters, so that alignment is naturally a little bit better. When they bowl to a southpaw, they go a little bit wide of the crease – running to the keeper. The issue left-hand bowlers face gets ignored sometimes. Their positions to the opposite side batters are not great at the crease.”

This is where Nandre’s new favorite YouTube search came into play. “He’s a big fan of Dale Steyn and a lot of the great South African pacers we’ve had over the years have been right-arm bowlers. We used to watch right-arm seamers and flip the videos around, to mirror the image, to get the left-handed pov. Looking at the right-armed angles, the alignment was much easier to do.”

But even having honed that aspect of his bowling over the years, come his Test debut, Nandre was indeed put to test. Struggling to swing the ball back into the right handers (from over the wicket) – a shortcoming Levenson had pinpointed in his formative years – on Day 3, the left-armer resorted to age-old way out.

“When he struggled a little bit, he went round the wicket. There was a bit of a variable bounce as well, but as soon as he lined up, pace was good and he obviously had the skills to bring the ball back in and take it away.” Both KL Rahul and Ravichandran Ashwin found themselves poking consecutive deliveries outside the off stump and South Africa’s debutant quick had all but ensured an early win. A debut, a December not even his most staunch of backers saw coming.

However, Levinson suggests this isn’t it for his pupil. “The next big target – even though he’s touching it – we’re calling it Project 150. To try and bowl it consistently. It’s quite a task, I know, but he will be a ‘nightmare’ for any batting unit when he gets there.” Who’s to argue?

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Triumph of the unorthodox: Like Bumrah, Like Burger

Nandre’s is not the most textbook of bowling sequences – it hasn’t been since coach Levenson first saw him bowl. The skip generated by the left-armer might be mistaken for a UFC fighter kicking his opponent. He has tried to shed that move a few times in the past, but would always come back to it. That however, never was a flaw as long as his overall form led to better alignment, believes his long time coach. He immediately refers to what former India coach Ravi Shastri had said on the comms in the first Test. “Bharat Arun, the former India bowling coach, saw a 15-year-old Jasprit Bumrah at the NCA and decided against forcing him to change his unorthodox run up.”

“Where would the Bumrahs of this world be if we tweaked every single thing as coaches,” remarks Levinson.

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