He has taken 78 Test wickets at 16 since May last year. The ratings say he’s the world’s best quick. TWC spoke to him before the England series
Interview by Lawrence Booth25-Jul-2008
‘When I get a bit of fire in my arse I can really get it through’ © Getty Images
How excited are you about your partnership with Morne Morkel?
I expect something big from Morne on this tour. He’s just getting better, bigger, stronger, faster. He’s even starting to scare me. I know he’s done well for Kent and Yorkshire and in English club cricket, and he’s starting to make that opening partnership with me his own. He’s been bowling really well in the nets during our training camp, too, but I don’t want to talk him up too much.So who’s quicker?
That’s a tough call. It’s funny, because when I get a bit of fire in my arse I can really get it through, but we’re different kinds of bowlers. I’ve done so well recently swinging it late. I watched Jimmy Anderson against New Zealand and he showed his class with that late swing. I don’t know who’s influenced him but, if I can find out, I’d like to have a word with the guy too. Morne is tall, fast, and gets unbelievable bounce. To have him towering over you from a few yards away can’t be nice. He’s a bloke who can get it down at 145 clicks [90mph], and at the other end is a skiddy guy swinging it at 145 clicks. We’re two different arsenals, if you like, and we can both be quicker than the other on our day.Daryll Cullinan has said he thinks you’re “far better” than Allan Donald was at the same age, 25. What do you say to that?
It’s nice when someone like Daryll says something like that. We had a season together at Titans, where he was my captain, and he was a massive influence on my life. I did everything for him he wanted me to do, so I probably kept in his good books. I’ve got over 100 Test wickets now and it’s nice to be compared with a legend like Allan Donald, but at some point the comparisons have got to stop and people have to start talking about me in my own right.Are you in touch with Allan Donald?
Not a lot. Sometimes when he does a bit of commentary I see him and we’ll bump into each other on the outfield and he’ll say something about the way I bowled yesterday or whatever. But the guy who has been unbelievable is Shaun Pollock. It’s all the advice you ever need just to be able to watch him. Just as importantly, he’s my shoe sponsor. We have the same size feet, so he has thrown a lot of second-hand shoes my way. I bought a house recently which has three bedrooms, and one of them is dedicated to shoes. There are about 30 to 35 pairs of cricket boots in there and about half of them have been sponsored by Shaun. He has a garage containing about 70 pairs, so we can always find a pair that fits.The stats say you have the second-best strike-rate behind George Lohmann of any Test bowler to have taken 20 wickets. How much attention do you pay to statistics?
It’s nice but what gets me going more than wickets in the record book is when your captain comes up to you and says, “I expect a wicket from you now.” To have the respect of your captain and your team-mates is the most important thing. That’s bigger than any record.Would you rather end up with lots of Test wickets or lots of Twenty20 cash?
Money comes with cricket, and cricket is what I want to do. I’d rather play it than sit in an office. Financially I’ll always be okay, though I’m never chasing the top dollar. At the end of the day you want to be remembered for who you are as a person, and then as someone who had good stats. You want to be remembered as someone who was hard to play against but was able to share a chat at the end of the day. We’re all human beings after all.I’ve got over 100 Test wickets now and it’s nice to be compared with a legend like Allan Donald, but at some point the comparisons have got to stop and people have to start talking about me in my own right Is Twenty20 good for the game?
The money is starting to make cricketers feel like footballers, and the game is quick, easy, people like it, and it’s bringing more spectators to the stadium for Tests. On a Sunday in South Africa now people will go and watch the Test rather than go down the beach or stay at home playing PlayStation. In that way, Twenty20 is helping.Will you feel the pressure this summer of being a potential series-winner?
No, there’s no real pressure. If I do the basics, I know I’ll get wickets. I love the thought that my captain wants to throw me the ball. I really thrive on responsibility. And it’s nice to be known as someone the opposition is wary of.Have you played against Kevin Pietersen before?
I played a one-day game for Warwickshire against Hampshire in the semi-finals of the FP Trophy last year at the Rose Bowl but I only bowled two balls to him and he got himself out at the other end doing something a bit unusual. But he’s a great player. He’s everything you want to play against and I’m sure he’s looking forward to playing against us as well. He’s the kind of guy who won’t block six balls – that’s for sure. But then, if he hits the first five deliveries of my over for four and then gets out to the sixth, look who’s laughing. The fact that he’s ex-South African has got nothing to do with his ability or skill. Unfortunately it’s one of those things that a couple of guys have chosen to leave us.How important in that case is it to show South Africans that you’ve got a sport worth hanging around for?
Yeah, that’s what’s happening right now. We’ve had a good meeting in the training camp and we all agreed that the South African team speaks for itself now. We’ve had six series wins out of seven and one draw. We feel our cricket is really going somewhere and we want to get the message across that people don’t have to leave the country. We don’t want them running away to England. We want to keep them here with our performances and we want them to play for us and to fight for the country of their birth. That’s the way it should be in international sport.
