[00:00:00] Josh Kennedy: Welcome back to the Cricket Matters Podcast. I'm your host, Josh Kennedy, ably supported, as always, by my co host, James Breeze. Today's guest is a former South African cricketer, a right arm fast bowler known for his aggressive bowling style and fiery on field persona. He played for South African national team between 2001 and 2008, and he earned a reputation for being an emotional and intense player.
[00:00:23] He was also known for his alter ego, which he humorously com uh, claimed as a part of his personality that he unleashed while bowling to maintain his fierce competitive edge. Effective with his pace and bounce, often using his aggression to unsettle batsmen, he played in all formats, including tests, ODIs and T20s, and was a key figure in South Africa's bowling attack for several years.
[00:00:45] It is an absolute pleasure to welcome Andre Nell. Andre, welcome to the Cricket Matters Podcast, mate.
[00:00:51] Andre Nel: Hello, Justin James. Thanks for having me on. Hopefully I'll be a nice little catch up.
[00:00:55] Josh Kennedy: It will be, it will be good. James, should we just dive straight in and go, um, [00:01:00] tell us more about Gunther?
[00:01:02] Andre Nel: I think it's actually a really funny joke.
[00:01:04] So when I stepped over the white line, I was sort of quite fired up. And, uh, my job for South Africa at that stage was to intimidate the other team. And then when I stepped over the ropes and this happened, actually, uh, and the one that Nate's, uh, uh, technical guy, video analysis guy, So let's say sometimes when you're on the field, it looked like a lack of oxygen to the brain.
[00:01:27] When you go into the mountains in Germany, and you go up into the mountains, a lack of oxygen to the brain, you go a bit loopy. Uh, we just kind of start calling you Gunther. And I thought like, that's, that's quite a funny, funny little name. I thought I'll go with it. You can call me Gunther, you can call me whatever you want to.
[00:01:42] So every time like, um, I went a bit mad on the field, everyone started calling me Gunther. So it sort of stuck. And, um, In one way, the press got word of this, and they sort of wrote a lot about little Gunter, my alter ego, and that actually helped me because now the press [00:02:00] have done all my work for me. They spoke about my alter ego is going to be aggressive and in people's faces.
[00:02:05] In the meantime, I should have, I tried to not be as aggressive, and I could just focus on my, my job as being a fast bowler. So the work was done for me, also filled by this little simple joke, uh, video analysis. It works in my favor. It's a. It's a nice little story. It's a nice little joke with all my mates and everybody I play with.
[00:02:24] And, but he really comes out and he's put away. It just happens when I go out to the cricket field. I love it. He's just put away somewhere in the cupboard for the moment. He's in the cupboard. When I, when I go out for the Martin Chalmers over the weekend, something, and I asked me to bowl and someone eats me 4 4, I want to bring him up.
[00:02:41] And my body's, my body's too sore and too old to be good to us. So I said, don't worry. I'll eat you 4 6 rather now, instead of 4 7.
[00:02:49] James Breese: I love it because it's obviously so funny. I haven't gotten to know you through the over 40s stuff, Andre, right? Like, you know, we have such a laugh, such a joke. But I literally remember watching it.
[00:02:58] I used to love [00:03:00] watching those African games. Particularly with you guys. Not less so against England, but more so against the Aussies. Because I remember watching live you with Brett Lee. I remember watching that whole game pan out when I was out there. I loved it. It was so great. So when I first met you, I was like, I was like, oh my god, it's Andre Nell.
[00:03:16] Like, he's the scariest, angriest man in cricket. And then I remember, oh, it's Gunter. Like, it's like, hey James, how you doing? And like, he's like the most friendly, nicest guy ever. So I love it. I think the Gunter story is absolutely superb. And it ties in with how you played the game. And it was, it was aggressive.
[00:03:31] But it was like, that was how, you know, whether it's rugby or cricket, South Africans always play the game hard. They play it fair, but they play it hard. And you cross that white line, you know, it's a hard competitive game off the field. You know, great guys, you know, it's just that style of doing things.
[00:03:46] And I, that's what I love about South African so much. I like,
[00:03:49] Andre Nel: I think the one thing that you must remember that's your job, but you do it for your country. So for me, I never had the best technical ability as a bowler, but what else could I bring to make [00:04:00] myself effective? And at one stage I realized, okay, let's see, I might not be technically as equipped as some bowlers, but my aggression with while limited to some of my technical abilities.
[00:04:11] Maybe pretty effective and I'll make that work for me because that's my best part of me. Those two have to be together. And I think my teammates want to be aggressive. I play it hard. The better the competition, like if I play against Brian R or Ricky Ponting, the better the competition, the more I want to bowl because I want to see with my limited capabilities if I can compete against them.
[00:04:34] I think that's just the African mentality in general. And no disrespect to the Northern Hemisphere people in general. I think that's a Southern Hemisphere sort of mentality. The harder the battle, the more you want to be stood up and challenged to see if you can compete. If you can't compete, it's fine.
[00:04:51] You'll go back and work and get better and compete again. We sometimes, I felt, and I'm only talking about my limited experience as coaching here, sometimes you're going to get [00:05:00] tossed in the Northern Hemisphere. The guys sometimes seem to back off and look for easier option where the South Africans and I think the Southern Hemisphere sometimes it's just, um, they want that extra challenge in battle.
[00:05:12] So that's the way I was going to play. I was always going to be hard and fair. Uh, that's just my nature. Uh, but I would never be able to hurt the fly. As you know, James, I'm probably the softest and I don't take a lot of things seriously off the field to be fair. Um, so yeah, I'm completely different to when I'm playing on the field.
[00:05:32] James Breese: Pretty. I love it. I love it. It started good. It's probably the best idea we had, Josh. Well done, mate.
[00:05:36] Josh Kennedy: Definitely. Definitely. I was going to say that when you're talking about that sort of South African aggression, like I said, we all know on this podcast that I don't watch a lot of cricket, except I've watched some and I've watched some clips of you actually, Andre, which I very much enjoyed.
[00:05:48] Um, but definitely excited. There was a lot of smiling. Yeah. You were, you were shouting. No surprise. It's sort of, it just makes me think of like the [00:06:00] South African rugby team, because they are so aggressive and obviously been on being English. We've been on the receiving end of, of you boys, uh, recently, we obviously lost in the, uh, in the world cup, not too, not too long ago.
[00:06:11] So there's definitely, is that sort of, is that within South African sportsmen in general, that aggression, do you think?
[00:06:17] Andre Nel: Um, I think it's just nurture, nurture, you know, from a young, young age. So. When we at school, we start school, we play sport as compulsion, every school, so you'll have to, after the school starts at 7 o'clock or half past 7, school finishes at 2 o'clock, and then everybody has to play a sport, uh, is it rugby, cricket, whatever you want to play, you play that specific sport for that certain period of the year, uh, and of the weather, so I think it's just the nature, we competitive, we want to do well, We are winners and I think everybody want to win.
[00:06:48] And I think if you're a professional sportsman in general, you have to have a bit of hardness, a bit of fight inside you to be really successful. And I think that this comes up maybe more in some people, [00:07:00] um, uh, people can see what you're feeling, where other people sometimes it's harder to look better than
[00:07:04] James Breese: what I did.
[00:07:06] It's interesting to say about like in schools, because that's two things I saw was out there. So we, in the World Cup in Cape Town, you know, in back in February this year, So we played at the, is it the Weinberg school boys, the Jack Alice Oval, I think we played, we played there against New Zealand and then we were at the Paul Roos, I think that's how you pronounce it, uh, in Rondebosch and both times we were there.
[00:07:26] We saw the kids playing and like training. And the one thing I couldn't get over, particularly at the Jacques Cannes Oval, was the fact that the kids there between the ages of 13 and 15 were stacked, they were cricketers who were athletic, fit and strong. And when they were in the nets, they're going hard at each other.
[00:07:45] They're having a laugh as well, the joke, but I couldn't get over the athleticism. With these guys, when you compare them to, um, I'll be honest, like what are the kids I've seen in the UK and how athletic they are, it was like day and night, they were like completely [00:08:00] different. And that was, I think that's one of the coaches there too.
[00:08:02] And he said, yeah, well, these guys, this is cricket season now, but you wait till they're playing rugby as well. So is that meant all year round mentality of playing multiple sports, playing it well, obviously, I think the weather helps and having good quality weather there too, to get outside and be more active.
[00:08:16] Yeah. But when I see on TV, the sport channels everywhere, you watch sport every day of the week, you see the kids training, getting outside. It's, it was a different mindset and different mentality, which I really like enjoyed and I wish that would be more part of a British culture, I think. And so you do.
[00:08:30] So there's a big difference.
[00:08:32] Andre Nel: I think that's a big thing. I think all the guys from a young age start playing sport in multiple sports, and I think it's almost the, the, the good rugby players will always, uh, almost be decent cricket players and vice versa. The good cricket players will be rugby players, always be football players or whatever.
[00:08:47] Like Urschel Gibbs, he played rugby, well, he played cricket well, he played football well, a played tennis rugby. All these superstars are really good cricketers and good sportsmen in general, I think. That helps with us being quite effective [00:09:00] because the sport is composed. Like I said, compulsory at school and everybody wants to do it.
[00:09:04] It's not like you have to be forced or basically you join a club. It's at school. You have to do it. Um, there's almost shut up and get on with it. And that's almost a mentality. Um, they teach you. So let's say, okay, you are going to be at school. You're going to be sport. You might as well enjoy it and get into it and, and do especially can, because.
[00:09:23] Otherwise, it's going to waste your time. And I think that helps us a lot. And I think in South Africa, it helps, especially our rugby players being so stacked and big, because from a young age, they'll be taught the right ways to train, uh, probably a bit stronger than most people and the more meat they eat and, um, all that is nice and the weather helps, but I think it's just from a young age, we get culture of.
[00:09:45] Try hard, play hard, and then be best sportsman in general. Eat steak. Eat steak, that's what I, that's what I know. Love biltong and steak, that's what I saw. Eat red meat. Unless it's biltong, that's the best natural form of creatine you can get. So that's why [00:10:00] everybody eats it. I love biltong. I
[00:10:01] Josh Kennedy: love biltong.
[00:10:02] It's so good. So good. We're gonna get, we're gonna go, start going down the food route now, because I'm a massive foodie. I'm gonna start. So let's try and stay on the, on the cricket side of things. Um, I don't know how much James has, uh, told you about the way we do things at Cricket Matters, but we try and balance the sort of the physical conditioning side, which is where I come in, um, with the mental and psychological resilience and the technical and tactical, uh, skills of the game as well, and kind of in that order.
[00:10:29] How do these elements sort of resonate with you in terms of your own career and experiences?
[00:10:35] Andre Nel: I think technically, like I said before, I was never the best equipped to, uh, be technically advanced, like actually very poor. Uh, but I think I mentioned my mental state made a massive part. I have to be in a certain mental space to be really effective.
[00:10:53] And so the quicker I figured this out, where yes, my actions, okay. But I had to be in a space where I looked for [00:11:00] better, look for fight and sync those two together. And that's why sometimes people don't understand. Sometimes I had a word to look for fighter response to get myself in the right mental space.
[00:11:11] To be effective as a cricketer with my capabilities. And I think that's really important that people can understand that. Yes, sticking to the path is the most important, but you need to know where you have to be in your mental space to be also be effective. I think it's really important. Physically has always been a part of our fortunate.
[00:11:30] I've always been quite big and strong and, uh, uh, quite bullish. But that doesn't mean you're going to be really effective. So for me, the mental part plays a massive part. And especially now with, uh, I just finished my level four course and the ways that kids and people get coached now is completely different to the way I've been brought up as we, uh, push and push.
[00:11:53] I've grown up here, push you to do the right thing and then get on with it. Now you have to, or they help you [00:12:00] to get to the right place. Now. You have to allow the kids to find their own way first, see where they bump their heads, and then you intervene at the right stage. To maybe get their mental part right, their physical part right, or their thinking part right, but they have to explore themselves first, before intervening where, I was almost just directed in the right way, do it, this, this is the way it works.
[00:12:21] Yes, it's maybe narrow minded at that stage, but for me and my character that worked and you have that understanding of who you're coaching, who you work with, what works for them. So I think all three of those things play a massive part in my career and the way I coach. I try and sync them as best together as possible.
[00:12:38] So, um, in general, that's really important, I think. So,
[00:12:41] James Breese: so let's start with the physical first. I want to go back into the mental side. You talked about the important mental. That's one of the things I'm seeing. On all levels of cricketers, you know, even some of the pros from we've seen was spoken to, but also a lot of the club club players in the amateurs, right?
[00:12:56] So we'll dive a bit more later on. Let's start with the physical conditioning [00:13:00] away away from actual playing on the field. You know what? What role the physical condition played helping you become a fast bowler? What physical condition did you do? Were you was a gym base? Was it running base? Talk us through back in the day and you and you're leading up to getting into the into the, you know, the South African team.
[00:13:15] You know, what was your training outside of cricket? Talk to us about that.
[00:13:18] Andre Nel: I
[00:13:18] James Breese: think
[00:13:19] Andre Nel: the big thing for me is I was a better rugby player than cricket player So I was always physically quite strong and a lot of gym work initially But I disliked running a lot for big guy. I don't like running But as a fast bowler you need that endurance and I never had that endurance as much So luckily strength wise I was always quite strong and I was quite happy with the strength But when I started playing cricket, they said to me they said I need to work on my endurance So I started doing a lot more cycling a lot more running Uh, so I can get that, that endurance in my legs with the power and especially with me having quite a strange and different action.
[00:13:55] I knew my bottom half of my body had to be a lot stronger than my top half [00:14:00] because my power and my pace came from my hips and my legs. So I knew that, so I had to make sure that I was strong in those departments. Yes, the top off was important for me, but for me that wasn't the crux of my power and pace.
[00:14:15] It was my legs, and I just had to make sure I get those parts quite strong, and get the understanding of how they work together. Um, so luckily for me, I was always quite strong. So the physical part was the enjoy part, the running part of the enjoy. And I'll never forget in 2007, uh, I was on the fringe of going to the World Cup.
[00:14:36] Um, I wasn't sort of a guaranteed to going and on the, I don't know if you can remember the yoyo or the bleep test or yoyo test, I think we're doing the bleep test. That's quite a long time ago. We're doing the bleep test and we had to get to 14. on the bleep test. And my best ever was 12. 5. So I wasn't the best runner.
[00:14:58] So this, they said to me, they say, if you [00:15:00] want to go to the World Cup, you need to make sure that you get to the level, otherwise you're not going to consider you for selection. So for that, yeah, I just ran everywhere and did everything I could to make sure I put as much endurance and sprint sessions in as I could, got to the testing for the final assessment to be selected to the World Cup.
[00:15:17] I ran to 16. 4. So. The motivation for me to go to World Cup is Brent. Uh, but also I think that also indicates me if I have like a, uh, it's almost like a horse, he plays a carrot dangling in front of me and there's a purpose and a goal, I would always reach a goal. And that sort of then helped me with everything I did after that is when I play against someone, what is this, the, the, the sacrifice or the, the gain I'm getting by getting, uh, It was almost a sec, the second part to our mentality to, to, to being more successful.
[00:15:51] So at least I got to go, uh, I got picked to go to the World Cup. And then we got to the semi final where I scored the second, uh, most [00:16:00] runs in that semi final because we've got balls that are quite cheapy. So I got the second highest score. So I see myself as more of a bowling all rounder than just a bowler.
[00:16:09] James Breese: Love it. Every ball is a batsman, right? Every ball is a batsman. It's a seat. It's a batsman in hiding, as I always like to say. That's how it is. But let's let's start is a couple of things i've made notes on here now and Um, i'm going to go more into the specifics of knowing what you did So let's start with cycling now.
[00:16:25] I've become over the summer a massive fan of cycling for cricketers in the in season. And the reason is it's a great because obviously the strain you put through your body playing is huge, you know, no matter what level, but cycling, I find is a really good recovery to help people do a zone to nice, easy condition to keep their baseline cardio fitness.
[00:16:43] Because guess what? You t20 one day test match. You know, you've got to have your endurance to play over the over that period of time. Yeah. And you've got to maintain it, because a lot of cricketers lose fitness sometimes during the season. Uh, they put a bit of weight on, we know as well, because season is hard.
[00:16:58] It's recovery. You don't want to train. You can't [00:17:00] do as much as maybe off season, for example. But cycling, I think, is a great way to recover whilst maintaining your endurance to keep playing without putting too much strain on the body. Talk to me about the cycling. What type of cycling were you doing?
[00:17:11] Long distance? Short distance? Tell me a little bit more about that.
[00:17:13] Andre Nel: So a big thing is what bikes weren't there yet, but I, because I was a big guy, my other leg was running as well, so it caused a lot of impact on my body. Uh, I don't want to do as much of that. So, so I cycle quite a lot, just on normal in the gym, uh, did like hour cycles, almost called like little fat burners.
[00:17:32] And then eventually I got to a stage where they call it brick sets. So where I would cycle for almost an hour, hour and 15, or sometimes an hour and a half, uh, at a certain time, keep your, uh, speed above 30 kilometers in an hour. So it's a hard cycle, a ridiculous cycle. And then straight away, get off and go run for 15 minutes.
[00:17:54] On the treadmill outdoors. So that makes your legs a lot stronger. Uh, [00:18:00] and far enough. I did that when I was playing a little bit and then, uh, that helped me quite a lot, but then when I retired. I did a few Ironman and I did a lot of these sets. I
[00:18:11] Josh Kennedy: was going to say that's triathlon training, that isn't it?
[00:18:13] Bike onto into running.
[00:18:15] Andre Nel: Yeah, I did that a lot and I didn't realize it. I thought bike, bike, run, bike, run. And then eventually I retired and someone dared me to do an Ironman. I did one Ironman and five full ones and ten off ones now. So, and that process, I still did a lot of cycling and running afterwards.
[00:18:31] That helped me a lot with my, my, my, my bowling and running. But I think that makes you stronger than what you think. And endurance in your legs by doing that helps a lot for bowling. And that's where you, you need your power. And especially for me, that's where I need my power for bowling. And also it's less stress on the body so you can recover.
[00:18:49] So even after a hard day's work and bowling a lot. Yes, you can do the ice bath, but then go for like a 20, 30 minute cycle, light, easy, will recover [00:19:00] and help your muscles also to recover. So I think in general, uh, cycling is underrated and not used enough. And people think you're not working as hard, but if you, if you do the right sets and do the right things on the bike, it can be just as valuable as, as running as much.
[00:19:15] James Breese: I love that. I really liked the idea, particularly for bigger guys like, like yourself, like you I'm six foot seven, you know, that's what I, that's what I have, right? So, you know, I'm just, I'm just a freak. I can just run. Yeah. Right. That's, that's how it rolls. Take a foot off maybe. I think that's, that's more appropriate, but no, but for the bigger guys, it's hard on the body.
[00:19:32] It's hard on the joints. And if you're bowling fast as well, it's so hard. So the cycle here, but I really liked the idea of the cycle for an hour with 15 minutes run, because cricket, you have to run, you can't get away from it, right? It's a part of the game, but, and doing it with tired legs, a lot of the triathletes we've worked with in the past.
[00:19:48] When we're doing marathon training or getting or whether it's triathlon as well is we get them to run. They are three days in a trot, increase their volume. So on the third day, they're running on tired legs. So it gets them used to running on tired legs [00:20:00] like race day without doing too much volume. So I quite like that idea, Josh.
[00:20:03] We might have to steal that for some of some of our training. So let's go back to the running then.
[00:20:08] Andre Nel: For Bona is important. If your legs are going to be tired, you're always going to be. And if you find a way to be effective on tired legs and then be consistent with your outcome and perform under those tired fatigue situations, you can replicate in training.
[00:20:21] How do you be better as a bowler? Uh, and for me that, that helped me quite a lot. So
[00:20:26] James Breese: that exactly. Well think about how many bowls blow up after four overs, right? Think how many, you know, particularly at club and amateur level. I'm not saying the elite level, I'm saying at club level alone with that, just having to make extra insurers to get 'em through to the sixth, seventh, and then battlefield last year, if anything.
[00:20:40] But it's, uh. I think that's a massive take away.
[00:20:43] Andre Nel: I always set myself a challenge, and my mentor Ray Jennings, he always challenged me what's going to make me different and unique, and he said, look, unless you're big and you bowl aggressively or whatever, but he challenged me always to make sure my last over, my last spell of the day, would [00:21:00] be the quickest spell of the day.
[00:21:03] I said, here's my first one, but he challenged me mentally to make sure my last foul is the best and quickest foul of the day with a new ball, old ball, whatever it might be, that last foul of the day should be the quickest because no one will ever expect it. And that's what makes me different and stand out in general.
[00:21:20] And that's what I use also as another motivation because And I think Del Stainless, uh, uh, um, did it quite well. He, you can always see his, his space stay continuously the same, but his last spells are always pretty sharp and quick. And I think that's the most important thing. That's what I tried to do. I might not always got it right, but, I challenge myself to make sure that my last part of the day should be close to me, or wants to be my quickest part of the day.
[00:21:47] James Breese: I love it. I really like that. And just very briefly about the running then. So obviously you took yourself up from 12. 5 to 16. 4 on the beat test, right? Which is a good score. That's a great score. So talk to us about what stuff and [00:22:00] what running stuff we do. We do long distance, we do short distance shuttles.
[00:22:03] What, what did you do?
[00:22:04] Andre Nel: I did a lot more sprinting. So it's like, almost like 30, 40 minute sprints, but I will do half an hour, 40 minutes of just running sprints. And then for a little run afterwards, or I'll do like a, a long little distance run and then after that I'll do more sprints. So I do a lot of sprinting because it's about turning and I'm a big guy so the turning was important to me so I had to make sure that I can get used to when the sprinting gets up I'm sort of used to it and then also I'm not sure if I should tell this I think I don't see you use a system where You never stop and turn.
[00:22:38] You almost run an SS and run, you run an eights. So instead of stop and turn, you run an eight like this all the time. So it's, it's not as heavy on for a special big guy. I'd say he was quite a big guy. He sort of started running an eights cause then you hardly ever stop and it's more running and turning instead of stopping and turning.
[00:22:59] [00:23:00] That's what as a big guy, I think. Kills us stopping. So we saw, I saw running in more eights like this, instead of like stopping and turning something to me, but that taught me a lot more. So I think it's just a lot more sprints. And this might be fine. A bad technique. And yes, I did some long endurance runs while went for normally a five guys and a 10 guys.
[00:23:22] And I think the biggest shift for me was I hated running. Honestly, I hated running. But the more I start doing it, and the more I start seeing, okay, I'm not, I can do it, I start disliking it. It's a massive mental change from hating to disliking. And I think that also made a massive, made a massive difference for me to go, okay, let's say I'm running, okay, I dislike it.
[00:23:46] But I can do it. I don't hate it because if you hate it, you don't want to do it. So that's also a massive part to possibly helping me with success.
[00:23:55] James Breese: That's one of the things that me and Josh use a lot of our guys. We love it when we change the mindset [00:24:00] towards running as being positive. And what I mean by that is people will have this.
[00:24:03] This, this fear of running, they've just, they associate running with being miserable, tired, sucking, blowing out their arse, that type of thing. Whereas we reframe it. And we go, okay. It is. It is, yeah, well it is. And that's the thing, we help them reframe it. So sometimes we, we hold off teaching them to run and get them fitter on the bike, fitter on the rower, the assault bike.
[00:24:24] All these types of things first. So when they go to run, we introduce this idea of walk running. So maybe they jog for a minute, walk for four minutes, you know, and we build them up slowly. So when it comes to this, it goes from hating it to disliking it, right? But it ties into it, it changes your mind. So I love what you just said about that from hating to disliking it, because if I'm assuming as well, the fitter you got, the better, it's easier, easier on the body as well, potentially.
[00:24:47] Andre Nel: And the thing that's again, yeah, by you getting guys fit also by before they start running. They believe and the confidence are there to know that you'll be able to do it. And the same thing, when I was doing those things, I started disliking it or like not hating [00:25:00] it, disliking it. And I can say, okay, let's see, I can do 10Ks, I'm feeling okay.
[00:25:04] Okay, I can keep pushing myself. So it's, it's a confidence and belief that you can do it because they fit, you get fit about it. So, so I think it's the way you almost said get them fit before running. It's a confidence you build in them that they'll be able to do it then. And then when they start doing it, of course the base is there, there's a lot of years in it.
[00:25:25] It's so funny, you, you said now the minute, minute walking and four minutes running or vice versa. That's how, that's the way I broke up all my Ironmen. I've done, I've done almost 17 Ironmen. I'll go, okay, I'll run four minutes. On a full hour man, I run three minutes, walk three minutes and a half hour man, I'll go run four minutes, walk a minute because I never, I knew I would never be able to run it.
[00:25:55] So like I, I make peace with walking. I wasn't upset when I was [00:26:00] walking. I enjoyed walking. So I was happy with it, but that's how you almost mentally break things down for you to be positive and more confident to be able to finish it again. What about doing this? You all talking mentally now you can actually realize that.
[00:26:13] Bigger part, the mental aspect plays to anything you're doing in life.
[00:26:18] James Breese: That's, that's, that's a perfect segue there. So the physical conditioning and some of the stuff here now in terms of, I love how we're talking about endurance and stuff as opposed to strength training and lifting weights. It sounds ridiculous, but everyone focuses on the lifting weights.
[00:26:28] Well, I see sometimes a lot of lifting weights has a detrimental effect on fast bowling. It makes bowlers slower sometimes because they train various different ways. So, but the endurance is good, but transitioning into the mental side of things, So obviously, like, how did you mentally prepare for a game?
[00:26:42] What was your, what was your routine pre match? Like, going into the morning of the game. What was your mental strategies around that side of things?
[00:26:49] Andre Nel: I'm not sure if I'll be able to tell you this because I was quite unique in my ways of doing things sometimes. So, I think the biggest thing for me is like, in the morning of the day [00:27:00] before, I will go probably bowl three, four overs at nets.
[00:27:05] Uh, just check all the checkpoints in what I was doing as a bowler. Make sure I check those little four or five checkpoints. Uh, and then that's about it. Go for a nice little ice bath. Uh, and then go to the hotel and just chill and eat as much as whatever I wanted to really. I wasn't massive on, um, What I have to eat is important.
[00:27:25] I just eat whatever because I was going to burn off the next day anyway. Uh, the morning I normally, uh, to make sure I have a decent breakfast, I think jungle oats or I don't know if you know what jungle oats is, just normal oats. Um, there was one of my biggest thing I have to eat before I go, uh, then I will take two bananas on the, on the bus.
[00:27:45] And then I had to, I had to listen to Lincoln Park,
[00:27:50] Lincoln Park, but it's also there's some of these songs are quite, uh, brutal and, uh, gets you quite wound up. So by the time I get to the ground, I was pretty [00:28:00] wound up already. And, uh, Then getting to the changing room, I was pretty OCD, so my shoes had to be perfectly set up, my, my, my area had to be really neat, uh, got to the changing room, uh, normally I used to go for a shower in the changing room, I don't know why, uh, I was a massive fan of having a shower, coming back to the changing room, then getting dressed, and Uh, I use a lot of baby powder, so powder into my, my, cause it's important, your legs and your, is important.
[00:28:28] So I always put baby powder down my, my strides, I think it's called in England or my, my leggings. I love it. And then on my feet. Yeah. Yeah. And then on my, on my feet, I put powder. Uh, I think that's, that's my weapons and powder. And then I put my socks on. My left foot was, my left shoe, shock, will always have gone first.
[00:28:48] And then my right shoe, there were socks. Uh, and then sort of I go into the field, do warmups. I wasn't a big fan of taking part in football or games. I just felt like, yes, I'll be a part, but that normally [00:29:00] took a lot of energy from what I wanted to do. So I'll play around and mess around. And the biggest thing is I did mess around.
[00:29:06] I didn't take warmups and things very seriously. I did joke around because if I was joking around, I knew I was nervous. So I was trying to distract from my nerves, almost being joking around and having a lot of jokes. Then my warmups, I had a few bowls, catch. I probably bowled maybe four or five bowls, then bowled too much.
[00:29:26] Then go into the training gym, uh, have another banana I brought with, then have a nice shower. Same process again, powder, socks if you're bowling first, if you're batting, batting first is even bigger bonus, have a longer shower. And then this tool, um, if we were bowling, came into the training gym, had a shower, put powder on, uh, chat to the captain just to make sure we're on the same plan of what we wanted to do, uh, and where's my head at, uh, where I'll be bowling.
[00:29:56] And I'll sort of act like I already had the idea where I was being. And then when we were [00:30:00] going out, uh, after that whole process of getting dressed or whatever, going to the field, sing the anthems, thank goodness I picked cricket because if I had to play a contact sport after the anthems, I would probably be sent off quite quickly.
[00:30:16] So it's pretty, I was pretty cool that I picked cricket so I could calm down a little bit before I bowled only. Uh, and then that's going to make sure that, um, bring us much energy, uh, with Makai normally onto the field. Yes. I maybe was a big guy in the field, but I always. Proud of myself for making sure I was quite agile and effective and brought as much energy in the field and stopped as many balls as I can.
[00:30:41] And then when my chance to bowl, sort of had my process of making sure my rubbers marked out and bowled a few balls to, um, Sean Pollock or Gary Kirsten. They were sort of my go to guys just to get me in a good frame of mind. And then this, my biggest thing is when I was running up, I just wanted to try to dodge here as much as possible.
[00:30:58] Back then it was [00:31:00] irrelevant. I had my game plan, but The first few balls, I just wanted to try and hit pouch as much as possible. Um, and then sort of got into my style and that's sort of my process. I went into test matches a lot of times.
[00:31:13] James Breese: I love it. And that's the key thing here now is process and routine.
[00:31:18] I think if anyone's here listening. And they can get out of this, you know, is you had, like, everyone's going to be different. Everyone wants to do it. And not everyone's going to like, listen to Linkin Park coming in on the team. Or have two showers, uh, pre game. Or have two showers.
[00:31:30] Andre Nel: Could be four showers some days.
[00:31:36] James Breese: But no, but this, this is, this is great because this becomes helping cricketers, realizing there's a process. It's the mental start to building up to it. And you're, you're prepped for each game, whether it's club cricket or international test match level, right? You've got your process to get you into the best position to perform at your best.
[00:31:53] And your best was having this thing. It's having oats in the morning, having two bananas with you, taking it with you, having the [00:32:00] showers. That was your thing. And I think when you speak to so many cricketers, they haven't got a process going into games. Like, that is a huge element I'm really learning now.
[00:32:10] It's because How can you perform at your best if you haven't got a consistent process pre match? And we'll go into during the match in a second now.
[00:32:18] Josh Kennedy: It made me think about, um, like, you know, a lot of footballers have their superstitions and the way they do things. Like Paul Lynch couldn't put his shirt on until he was, like, walking out of the tunnel and stuff like that.
[00:32:28] You know, and having to put their left boot on before their right boot or, you know, whatever it is. A lot of, You know, elite sportsman have those things, don't they?
[00:32:37] Andre Nel: Uh, different, uh, different ones. For one day games, I was more like, when I was in the bus in 23, I was like listening to dance music. That's weird.
[00:32:45] And then, like, and then I'll get to the ground. I'm like hopped up and already going and buzzing already. So I'm like up for it already. Because I just felt the intensity is a lot quicker than Tesco. Tesco, yes, you want to, you hopped up. You don't want to be over hopped up because then you used [00:33:00] your energy at the wrong time.
[00:33:01] So I thought Lincoln Park, yes, I guess you opt up, but it's a bit more children and it's weird. But I think what you're saying, James, the process is so important. The only way you can know your process, you have to experiment and people don't sometimes take notice of what they're doing because it's so hard.
[00:33:19] Others do this because it happens. No, you have to make sure as a sportsman, you need to make sure what you do every time because that little small difference in little details to, but making you successful. You might miss if you're not aware and consistent, consistently making sure you ocean. That's what I'm doing.
[00:33:39] Okay, cool. This works for me. I'll do it again and see if it makes me feel better and keeps my comfort zone. Because if you can keep yourself in your comfort zone the whole time, and that's what process is there for. Yes. It's there to get you ready for the game, but it keeps you in your comfort zone. So you don't get too nervous or unlucky.
[00:33:58] You're always in your comfort zone [00:34:00] because if in your comfort zone, that's when you know you can be able to perform at your best. If you're out of your comfort zone, sometimes you'll be unsuccessful. And then all of a sudden, Oh, what am I doing wrong? Because you're not, you haven't got a solid process and you'll be less consistent to perform well, if you don't have that solid process, I think.
[00:34:19] And that's a real key for kids to find out. And it's funny enough, I say to guys now, especially fast bowlers, how do you fix yourself? So, so when you bowl well, guys think, Oh no, I bowl well. It's fine. I'll take five wickets today. That's the moments when you're bowling well, you have to make sure, okay, take reference points.
[00:34:37] Where did my front foot land? Where did my momentum go? Where did the ball go? Where did my follow through go? Because when you're out of form, you have no answers to fix yourself as a bowler, instead of depending on a coach. And if you make those reference points when you're bowling well, it's a lot easier to be consistent.
[00:34:55] Because then when you're out of form, It takes you less time to get back [00:35:00] into form if you have those answers already. But if you're still searching for those answers all the time, you don't take the time when you're bowling well to take those answers and get those answers for you to be consistent in form at the highest level, you'll be longer periods out of form, you'll be less successful.
[00:35:15] That leads to won't be picked. That leads, leads to a lot more other things where you have to make the time and be aware when you're bowling well. That's a moment you have to seize. Because it's easy and the answers are there for you to fix yourself when you're out of form. And that means we need some consistency.
[00:35:34] And that's why I teach a lot of bowlers now these days, to make sure they seize those moments.
[00:35:38] James Breese: I love it. And we're going to come back onto the technical side of things in a little bit, but I'm going to go back into the mental process for each ball. So, I want you to talk about your process. Let's start when you're opening, let's say you're opening the bowl, okay?
[00:35:51] What is your process from at the top of the mark to bowling the ball? What goes through your head? What do you say to yourself? And then what's your [00:36:00] process coming back to the top of your mark? Talk us in depth now. What's going through your mind? What do you say to yourself? What are you thinking? Is it technical?
[00:36:08] Is it mental? Do you have a keyword? Do you have a buzzword? Talk us about that.
[00:36:12] Andre Nel: I think the biggest thing for me is, when I'm at the back of the run up, the work had to be done already. And that's the biggest thing. I don't want to be at the back of the run up and I haven't done enough work. So, I'll know I've bowled enough.
[00:36:24] I know my best ball, I can bowl with my eyes closed. Uh, technique wise, I'm in a good position. So, all those checkpoints that I set for myself. I know I've done that practice and practice as hard as I can to be ready for those situations. At the back of my run up I normally say, I can say, don't try to think of anything else and this time bow the ball as quick as, quick as you can to bat.
[00:36:46] So that was my process, my first few balls is making sure I bow the ball as quick as possible to the keeper. Uh, wasn't thinking of anything else, not the bat or whatever, just to make sure my bowler catches the ball as many times as he can, my first few [00:37:00] overs or first few balls. If I get that right, my momentum is good.
[00:37:05] On the way back, if I didn't get that right, maybe on the leg side, I will check where my checkpoints are, maybe see my front foot, maybe didn't land correctly. Okay, just be aware of where my front foot landed, where my follow through went. There's those small checkpoints I check on the way back. What happened with those balls to make sure, can I say, I'm slightly off in this space.
[00:37:23] Refocus on those. And then by the time I get back to my run up again, back to my mark, my run up, those checkpoints will have been cleared. Make sure they're focused on. And then I'll just think, okay, but catch the ball, please. So I, I really tried to, I really tried to keep it as simple as possible, but I think the biggest thing for me is the work that had to be done before and then I had to know what my referencing checkpoints were before I did all those things.
[00:37:49] James Breese: I love it. And I'll get to those checkpoints now in a second. So, so as you were running it, did you ever say to yourself a buzzword? Do you ever say a buzzword as other, other than like obviously hit the gloves hard with pouch? Did you ever say to yourself a [00:38:00] word as you were running in? Did you sing a song at the point of delivery?
[00:38:03] Did you ever say anything? Or was it just like He sang
[00:38:04] Josh Kennedy: Linkin Park on his run. Linkin Park, yeah. He was going
[00:38:08] Andre Nel: All I was thinking of is just trying to bowl the ball as quick as possible. Occasionally, when Gunter came out, There's a few hard words that came into my head when I was running up, uh, at the moment of delivery and just before I got to the umpire, the only thing I was thinking about was getting the Baltimore voucher as best I can.
[00:38:28] James Breese: Love it. And that ties in nicely. I had a question, I had a coffee with a mate of mine this morning and he's, um, he's a cricketer, amateur cricketer, very high level water, water polo player, but loves, he's a fast bowler, wannabe fast bowler. And the question he asked me to ask you today was, you know, which I pretty much answered.
[00:38:44] Is Andre Nel trying to bowl as fast as he can every ball, or does he take 5 percent off? You know, what do the pros do, and what should amateurs do,
[00:38:53] Andre Nel: like me? I think, yes, I, it's interesting that I just want to try and bowl as quick as I can to mow parts of, because that was my [00:39:00] role, to intimidate, try and bowl as quick as possible, and be in people's faces.
[00:39:03] If I bowl part of puff, how can I be in people's faces if I bowl part of puff? So that was also part of my armory to make sure this year, if I want to intimidate people, I need to bowl and I need to be in people's faces and bowl quick. But I think the longer you play it, the better you get the understanding of what the conditions need on the day.
[00:39:28] Because cricket's conditions are always different and variable. And on some days, if you bowl quick on certain wickets, it might not be as effective. So yes, then you'll bowl slightly slower because the conditions will dictate for you to be more effective. So yes, having an understanding of the conditions, understanding what the conditions need, and what will work best in those conditions.
[00:39:50] When it's a slow, damp wicket, this point is bowling quick because you're just going to waste energy. And when you can put your energy into fielding or something else, you can [00:40:00] bowl just as effectively as bowling on a good land. And the ball seeming and doing a few things. So it's just making sure you get the understanding of knowing what the conditions are, what your role is, and then adapting according to those things, but that will come with time.
[00:40:13] You play, not everybody is as lucky of having that understanding. Then you have to know what your teammates want from you. What you're on your team. If your team wants to be in the enforcer, then unfortunately you have to build quick. And if your teammates wants you to kind of say today, you want you to be adaptable and be more effective and ask more questions instead of being a forcer.
[00:40:34] You need to then be able to adapt. So it's, you have to get the raw understanding of what you'd be able to do for your team initially, but also what you best good at, and then. But that's, that's what you get with playing more and you get the understanding of what cricket is about,
[00:40:49] James Breese: I think. So, what I was going to say was, well Dan, I think there's your answer.
[00:40:53] We play, you play an important kind of field all the time. It's slow, damp Welsh, Welsh wickets. You know, conserve [00:41:00] the energy. I think that's the answer. I think
[00:41:01] Andre Nel: almost. Yeah, but you can be effective. You can still be just as effective bowling good length on a damp wicket. And the days will be there. You can bowl quick and you, you can bowl one or two balls really quick.
[00:41:12] Yeah. Just to show the batter that you've got that in and that's the variation you can show them that you can bowl quick that creates doubt and then you go back to being more effective being maybe slightly slower on a good length and you'll be just more just as effective as bowling quick but you have to occasionally and that's it that's just being cricket smart is showing the ball or what or the batter what you can do and then going back to get a share.
[00:41:34] I might not need to bowl quick But he knows I can bowl quick and then be effective on bowling top of off stump and maybe slightly slower. So it's just making quick enough and using quick enough to be more effective.
[00:41:46] James Breese: And then, so one last question on the mental side of things. And this is a question from Gary Holly who's involved with the Wales Over 40 setup.
[00:41:52] You know, when things weren't going your way on the field, what was your process or routine to reset and regain your [00:42:00] rhythm? You know, what did you do if, when things weren't going well?
[00:42:03] Andre Nel: I think a big thing is sometimes for me it was more of a mental thing. Other kind of way of progression. And I got lost control of my emotions and that sort of influenced in my way of bowling.
[00:42:16] And that's where me and Polly became quite good because Polly understood me and he sort of came to me and said, let's come back to present because I would get carried away with my emotions. But I think that the key thing is if things are not going well for you technically wise, make sure that you have those checkpoints as a bowler and a batter or anybody in what You have to do to make yourself effective.
[00:42:43] So for me as a bowler, I can use myself as an example. I knew with my technique, my back foot couldn't get too close to the stumps. If that happens, I would spread open too wide. I'd have no power to go forward. So that had to be almost just outside the wide line, next to the stumps. [00:43:00] My front foot had to be mid crease.
[00:43:03] My follow through had to be almost on the, the roll part of the pitch. And then I have to make sure I finish with me to botch. So those are my four checkpoints and if I didn't feel or something didn't feel right and I wasn't riding well, that's the four things I'll revert back to and focus on the most.
[00:43:23] Because if I do that, I knew I was effective and worked a lot quicker. So that's why I went back to focus on those four things when I was not fully happy with what's going on. And that almost took me away from what's happened around me, the emotions. But also, if I'm boding badly and I focus on what I'm boding doing wrong, that's a negative mindset.
[00:43:46] If I focus on the four checkpoints that work to me, that's a more of a positive mindset and I know it makes me bode well. So then that will proceed to be more positive and more, uh, confidence that lead to better [00:44:00] outcome. So it's almost time to split the negative thought process into a positive mindset.
[00:44:04] But knowing what your checkpoints are in your action or as a batter or a bowler, if that makes sense.
[00:44:09] James Breese: Yeah, so for the listeners out there, let's just reiterate those four checkpoints you had. The first one was?
[00:44:15] Andre Nel: Well, bat foot couldn't land too close to the stumps. So if you know the stumps, there's normally like a little white line next to the stumps.
[00:44:24] My back foot just had to be outside that white line. Then my front foot had to be mid crease, not too wide, but almost mid crease, because if my front foot went wider than mid crease, I was unbalanced and all my legs are too wide open, so I would not be able to transfer power forward. Then, make sure my follow through and head goes down the pitch towards butt.
[00:44:46] That's mean my power and the force is going to where I want the ball to go, that brings more accuracy.
[00:44:52] James Breese: Brilliant. I, I'm going to start on that because it's interesting now the head position, we're, we're seeing that a lot. I can't wait, we obviously in batting we all know the head still, [00:45:00] head's, head's simple, you know, if, if you, if your head is off canter, off to the offside, you're always going to struggle, so the head is the most important thing.
[00:45:06] But I talked to a few people recently, I didn't realize how important the head was in terms of bowling, you've got to watch some of the greatest spin bowlers, for example, their heads don't move. It's like, it's like a train track here, it doesn't move. So for fast bowlers, and you coaching fast bowlers as we get into the technique, let's talk about the head position.
[00:45:22] How important is that head position then for you and when you're coaching other fast bowlers?
[00:45:28] Andre Nel: I think the head's the heaviest body part on your body. So wherever the head goes, the body goes. So if your head is forwarding away, your power is going to where the body is going to go. And where do you want to bowl?
[00:45:39] You want to bowl to the stumps. It's important to make sure your head goes forward. And where do you get your pace from this? Hips and shoulder separation. Not everybody will be able to do hip and shoulder separation properly. But how can you then compensate if you can't do it properly? If you use your head pushing forward, you get the same, you get the same hip shoulder separation if you just push your head forward.[00:46:00]
[00:46:00] That means there's more power going to where the target is. It makes it a lot easier if you're consistent because you're working in a straight line. And that's all about this understanding, wherever the head goes, the body will go. Is it better? You know, if your head's going over and falling over, your power will go over.
[00:46:16] So it'll be difficult for you to play straight. So you're going to be always, I'll be doubling. So you always try and push it forwards to the umpire. So the head now plays a massive part because two things, balances you. And what's the most important thing as a bowler and a batter, that's where your vision is.
[00:46:33] So if you can't see where you're bowling, you're going to be in trouble. Where you, if you can't see where the ball's coming from, it's going to be difficult. So this helps you also to make sure that you'll be able to see what you're doing.
[00:46:42] James Breese: So, so these four things that you, you found, that was your checkpoints here.
[00:46:47] How long did it take you to find it? What was, what was the, the lightning, you know that Lightning strike Bolt. Okay. Oh my God. It's these four things. Was it time, was it a conversation with a coach to you figure out yourself. T talk to me about [00:47:00] that.
[00:47:00] Andre Nel: I think that that's where, I think that helped me quite a lot.
[00:47:03] Uh, Ray Jennings, my mentor, uh, that I worked with is my coach from 2002 to like 2006. He was actually a keeper initially, and he sort of got a good understanding of my action. And I just sat down with him. He said to me, I said, so this is your action. What do you think works for you? I said, coach, I'm not a hundred percent sure.
[00:47:24] And he sort of started breaking my action down in little pieces. And he said to me, I said, there's four things you need to consider. And we spoke about it. And I thought, geez, this makes a lot of sense. And then I start doing that on a bold wall. And then he came with this nice little theory of when you're bowling well, make sure you take those little notes.
[00:47:45] And I, I'll never forget. I played my first game, probably, um, when he was a month after he was coached, I took a seven for in the game and I went off the field and I wrote my little notes down on my checklist. He said to [00:48:00] me, please make a checklist on what you do well today. And that's when the penny dropped.
[00:48:06] It was like, wow, because now that I've made those little checkers for a bold, well, I've got, like I said before, now I've got answers to fix it with when it's wrong. I don't have to depend on anybody else. I don't have to depend on the coach. I can't, I don't have to depend on anybody else. I can only depend on myself.
[00:48:26] And at the end of the day, who's the person who's borrowing the ball, you. And if you can fix yourself and you know what you're doing wrong and you can fix it. You are winning. You are going to be pretty successful. And you'd be, like I said, then you'd be, you'd be, you're consistent. You know, your outcomes will be consistent.
[00:48:44] It'd be more consistent in form than out of form. And that's when I paid, I think about 23, 24, the paying drop. And that's when, like everything that's been from, I was buying normal franchise credit. In the space of two years, I went from buying franchise credit to buying international credit. But just having that [00:49:00] understanding and, um, so I'm truly thankful to him for getting me that process, understanding that process for me that worked.
[00:49:06] So I think that's just the key thing. I spoke to him and he sort of showed me the life, I think, to be honest.
[00:49:13] James Breese: That's, that's brilliant. Like I said, there's so many things you can pick apart in this year now, but what you did was you talked about taking responsibility for your bowling in the middle of the park.
[00:49:25] You got the help of a coach to help you work out what that process was. But I think, you've said this before earlier on in the interview, was that the fact that you, when you're bowling well, you've written down what went well. And so many people forget about it, like it's, like I think you learn, sometimes you learn more.
[00:49:41] from failure than you do success. But success leaves clues. So by writing down the ideas that are here now, and I think what separates the great players from what I've spoken to and seen, whether it's club cricket, you know, I'm not experienced at test level, I've never played that game at that level here, but when you speak to them, it's the ones that can pull themselves [00:50:00] quickly into the zone.
[00:50:01] into that flow like mindset to get back into shape quickly and know what those checkpoints are. That's the one that separates you. And you've kind of like just reaffirmed that and that was your checkpoint from going from franchise, you know, state level cricket to test arena, which is a big step up, right?
[00:50:16] Andre Nel: It is a massive step up, but the thing is that will never change. Cause if you find a process that works and you consistently get to the international credit, that's been the easiest spot because when you pay international credit, you do a limited amount of work. You just reconfirm what your process and what your checkpoints is.
[00:50:35] The coaches are not coaching you, they're there to guard you and give you some tips and advice or maybe betting those things, but those things will never change. But you have to find those things first before you ever be successful. And if you never found them. unfortunately, you'll struggle to be consistently.
[00:50:52] Uh, top performer. I
[00:50:53] James Breese: love it. So in, in that, let's do a segue now from your playing career into coaching. So when you're working with a [00:51:00] fast bowler now, a young up and coming fast bowler, what are the checkpoints? What are the things you're looking for? And do you have a process of helping them establish their best performance going through that?
[00:51:10] Talk us through your process. I think these
[00:51:13] Andre Nel: days I'll have a look what makes them unique first, because these days there's no more like by the book bowlers and cricketers anymore. I think as a coach, you need to be really adaptable. So when I see what makes him successful, then speak to him and see if he's got, he's got an understanding of what he's doing first, um, and then I'll try and see what his fundamentals are.
[00:51:36] So I work on four simple little things as a fast baller, your back foot landing, your front foot landing. hip shoulder separation, and then you follow through. So that was all a few things. So if you have understanding, if you start on semi or front on, then if your shoulder hip separation is where your pace comes from, if that makes sense.
[00:51:55] So, so now Josh, we're doing a lot of crickets, cricket talk here, but [00:52:00] hopefully it does make a bit of sense for you. Sorry.
[00:52:02] Josh Kennedy: No, it's, it's fascinating. I'm learning more and more about the game.
[00:52:06] Andre Nel: So I check where they fall on that little frame set. And sometimes they may be not 100 percent there, but then also no one's perfect.
[00:52:15] So there's all shortcuts you can also do because I never was in those things. But only if I use my head, I'll get my solar separation. So my hips never turn as much, but my head works as much. So I get the same principle. So, so I look where there are those framework and if it's possible to coach, to make sure that you can coach them in close enough to those framework to limit injuries.
[00:52:36] And then the big thing for me is fast bowling, for me, is all about attitude and this thing. Because fast bowling, it's the hardest job in the game. And you have to make peace with pain, firstly. But then also you want to see the character behind that. The guy who wants to come back the next day to bowl the same and do the hard work again.
[00:52:57] That comes from training possibly, yes. [00:53:00] But that comes from pure this thing and the hunger to be successful. So those are things. And sometimes you might not see it the first session, but you can see the way the guy talks to you, the way he's excited when he talks about bowling, when you ask him a question, the way he answers.
[00:53:18] You get a lot of ways and things by speaking to someone. How they feel about the job. So those all sort of the tools I've tried to use now these days with fast bombers, and maybe when I was a young coach, I probably didn't use those tools enough. I was just thinking, this is the way it's going to be done.
[00:53:35] I was quite an enforcer, but I think I've sort of suffered and got a better understanding of what could work better these days. Uh, I think that's probably the way I'd go
[00:53:45] James Breese: about it, uh, now. It's interesting, because there is nothing more exciting than the fast bowler bowling. Like, I think, Josh, when I took you to Headingley to watch the Ashes last year, and Mark Wood bowled that first ball at 97 miles an hour with a crowd.
[00:53:56] Like, he got the crowd off the edge of their seats. It's, it is true. It's like, you know, the [00:54:00] hairs are back on the next man. I couldn't even see
[00:54:01] Josh Kennedy: it. I don't know how you, how do you even see that? I couldn't see where the ball went. It was ridiculous. Neither did I, I was the
[00:54:07] James Breese: Aussie batsman that time as well.
[00:54:09] But the point is, it is. Fast bowling is exciting. Fast bowling is exciting. Okay, it's it's an absolutely, you know, it's a pleasure to watch when it's done extremely well I can't imagine what it's like to bowl it as well like be able to come in ferociously and hit that hit those sort of Paces too. So it's an exciting part of the game and long may it continue It's a battle batsman versus bowler and it's just you know It's one of those things that puts bums on seats people want to see it and the question is is You know, how do you develop more fast bowlers here?
[00:54:33] And this is what we're trying to get at is I think there's a lot of secrets we can learn from andre From other fast bowlers out there too of how they're able to get to that level You And the things here is so far, you know, it's having those, it's mental prep, mental, the mental prep and process we're learning so far, we're learning what is, what are his checkpoints to get to here now.
[00:54:51] Those are the key things here now.
[00:54:53] Andre Nel: I'm sorry, I think just before you go on, James, I think the big thing is fast bowlers are sometimes this unassuming guys that you don't [00:55:00] expect their skill level might not be as good, but they've got the biggest heart because skill levels you can improve and technique you can improve, but no one can improve heart and passion and they are too fine and it's like Mark Wood, you could see he's passionate about bowling fast.
[00:55:15] He just wants to bowl fast. That comes from, yes, he does a lot of hard work. He's a, he's a small guy. But to bowl that quick and put your body through that the whole time is not from this technique that comes from within and it's sometimes hard to find, so you can't teach that to someone, so sometimes it takes time for bowlers to develop that, but I think when they get the technique right and they might not have the heart at that stage and they get the technique right and they start building consistency and performances, I think that's a good thing.
[00:55:46] That art will grow to love fast bowling, if that makes sense.
[00:55:49] James Breese: Absolutely love it. Yeah, absolutely makes perfect sense. So the segue off towards like closing, because we've obviously taken enough of your time now today, it's been fascinating insight into the world of your mindset of bowling at that level.[00:56:00]
[00:56:00] So looking back at your career, Is there anything you'd have done differently in terms of, of prep, in terms of technique or anything on strategy even, what sort of things would you have done differently now, knowing what you know now and using Captain Hindsight as your guide?
[00:56:12] Andre Nel: I think spend more time on my batting.
[00:56:17] I only realised that I wanted to be an All Rounder at about 2005 06 and that's when Polly started working with me and I improved my batting quite a lot. And I see myself as a bowling or rather because I average double figures in all formats of the game. So I see, I see myself as, but as a bowler, um, maybe calmness sometimes I got carried away with the, the passion hunger to be six, uh, to, to enforce and said, yes, enforce.
[00:56:49] But maybe smarter in that sense. Um, and then maybe eating top of off some slightly more because yes, I always had good power, balance and carry, but I [00:57:00] sometimes were inefficient because I didn't take the stumps enough. Yes, I was okay, but not enough. And I think I could have done that slightly better on even wickets that suit fast bowlers.
[00:57:12] We had the wonders, our tenable back of the length where you should bolt full To attack the stump site, you've been more effective. And yes, you got right, but I didn't get right enough. Um, and then I think maybe taking my fitness a bit more seriously. I was, I was fit enough and I trained and I did bowl. I love bowling my overs.
[00:57:35] I would bowl a lot of overs. And then I would always say, if I could bowl my overs, why do I have to do so much work off the field? What do you want me to do? You want me to buy my overs and I never let the team down with buying my overs. Um, and that's, I'm proud of that, but I think I could have been more, um, specific to training side of the yard or off the field and my nutrition could have been better.
[00:57:59] [00:58:00] Uh, I think that's in general nutrition played a big part. And I already realized how big a part nutrition played when I started doing Ironman again. Eating at the right times, eating the right things at the right time, um, drinking the right things at the right time, the amount of energy you can gain, and using the right energy at the right times with the amount of food you eat.
[00:58:18] You could see the resemblance to what that could have helped me with cricket. So probably those few things. A lot of things it sounds like, but it's not that much. Probably two, probably three or four things I could have used better. No, no, no. Like myself, it will affect them.
[00:58:32] James Breese: I think it's great advice to pick up people that are coming back.
[00:58:35] And that's what we try to coach in terms of nutrition and the fitness side of things. That's why we come in and, you know, if we can give our unique spin on stuff, it's how we look at, you know, your, how well you move, your physical conditioning, and the nutrition component. Because the more you nourish your body and hydrate, the clearer you can think to make better decisions on the field.
[00:58:52] That's our take all the time. And I wish there's more information out there because cricket technically still quite young in professionalism, I think, compared to baseball and other, other, [00:59:00] other things. So, you know, the stuff you're sharing now is, is using your hindsight and knowledge to impact, you know, thousands of other cricketers out there who can maybe perform.
[00:59:08] So on, on that note, one last question for you is like, if what do you think young bowlers or bowlers in general can learn from the way you play the game to make them the best version of themselves today?
[00:59:19] Andre Nel: Better take a back step and take a chance to the better. Nice. Thanks. Love it. Simple. More content. A lot of times these days, A lot of times these days guys go, No, no, no, baller not.
[00:59:29] This baller looks pretty, I'll swing the ball out. But they never, they just like, I don't know how the rules have changed. Ball robots? I want characters as ballers. Ballers should be characters, not robots. And the rules have changed to limit characters. But characters make the game exciting. Make people come and watch.
[00:59:47] I just want more guys, more characters, to, to, to, to, To take a chance to batters and the batters dominate so much with all the games change and suit them. Bonus step up and previous skill. I mean, take the chance to the
[00:59:59] Josh Kennedy: [01:00:00] batters. Bugger the batters. But one last question for me, actually, before we wrap up.
[01:00:04] Who were your toughest opponents? Who were the toughest batsmen that you faced? Anyone that sticks out? It's
[01:00:09] Andre Nel: hard to separate. It's difficult to separate. I was fortunate enough to play against some really good cricketers. Um, but it all depends on the situation, the game, and the importance of the wickets.
[01:00:21] But, uh, probably Sehwag was pretty difficult to play against. Um, Laura, um, so it's really difficult to a few days, but it's, it's difficult to single one person up because it depends on the situation, the game and the importance of the wicket for my team. My biggest thing is if I can get the best player out and my team wins, that was my role.
[01:00:47] And I love, I love the chance to play against the best batters and players. So yes, I might have always been successful, but that was my challenge. And also that's a challenge for my team to be selected. that it will always take the challenge to any better. So, [01:01:00] so it's difficult to single anybody out because I was fortunate to play some great cricketers, again, some great cricketers.
[01:01:05] So, so it's difficult to single anybody out, really. Cool.
[01:01:10] Josh Kennedy: If, uh, if people want to find out more about yourself and your coaching services, uh, do you have any social media channels, uh, or a website, anything they can find out about you, Andre?
[01:01:19] Andre Nel: Uh, no, I'm this, uh, I coach at the National Fast Bowling Academy.
[01:01:23] Um, that's in Bishop Stortford. So. That you'll find that on Instagram, um, then I would love to coach professionally the full time. So hopefully if anybody can offer me a job while listening to this, I'll be truly grateful. I love cricket. Yep. I would love to coach professionally, uh, or at a school where the, uh, I think I can offer so much to people.
[01:01:45] Uh, I think it's just a wife sitting in the office at the moment doing bookkeeping. Um, um, but yeah, not, not the moment. So, you know, that's where you're like probably farming.
[01:01:55] James Breese: Oh, it's true. I think obviously from just the insights we've learned from today, like hopefully people out there will [01:02:00] listen to this and take a lot from it and I hope the opportunities do come your way because I think it's been a fantastic insight.
[01:02:05] I've learned a lot about Not just your approach, but just the approach to help other fast bowlers as well, who come into, into our life. So Andre from us, thank you very much.
[01:02:13] Andre Nel: Uh, thanks for having me, James and Josh. And, um, obviously we'll catch up soon for, for beer, James. Absolutely.
[01:02:17] Josh Kennedy: Absolutely. Thank you. Uh, thank you guys.
[01:02:20] Thank you for listening until next time.