There's No Rest For The Wicked...Is There?

There's No Rest For The Wicked...Is There?

When Bob Woolmer first introduced the concept of ‘voluntary’ net sessions on tour during the mid Nineties, he would have enjoyed greater success in promoting ballet classes. Captain Kepler Wessels counted heads at every one of these so-called voluntary sessions and made no secret of his disdain for them – disgust, even.

“So, you’re obviously in great form – no need to train, huh? You obviously can’t get any better, I’ll expect a lot of runs and wickets from you,” he said snidely to big all-rounder Brian McMillan, the only man in the squad ever to use the word ‘voluntary’ in its literal sense.

The seed for the long process of change was planted by Gary Kirsten in 1998 when, emboldened by the unexpected award of the vice-captaincy, he spoke of the “mental weariness” of opening the batting against Glenn McGrath for two months in both Test and ODI cricket.

Six weeks into the tour, he suggested that a stroll around Sydney’s Circular Quay might be more beneficial to both him and the team than hitting more balls in the nets. Woolmer agreed, although Wessels’ successor, Hansie Cronje, was deeply unenthused.

The team’s current manager, Mohammed Moosajee, was the assistant manager back then so his association with the team extends beyond a decade and a half. As a qualified and practising medical doctor, he needed no convincing about the healing and restorative powers of rest. Gradually, the puritanical dedication to practising and training, so intrinsic to the Afrikaner heritage from which Wessels and Cronje emerged, began to be compromised.