Gasant Abarder chats to Paul Adams - the cricketer who claimed some big scalps with his “frog-in-a-blender” bowling action. [Video]
The man they call Gogga has grown up from his days of being a cheeky 18-year-old who raced to 100 Test wickets and claimed some big scalps along the way with his “frog-in-a-blender” bowling action.
Paul Adams has a habit of winning. In his short time as Cape Cobras coach he has racked up an impressive collection of silverware for the Newlands trophy cabinet.
The spinner burst onto the scene for the then-Western Province team with his unusual bowling action and immediately caught the attention of the national selectors. Before long, the Plumstead High School boy from Grassy Park made a dream Test debut and inspired a generation of young cricketers to follow suit.
But it was at one of the oldest cricket clubs in Cape Town, St Augustine in the South Peninsula, where Paul learnt his craft, following in the footsteps of cricket legend Basil D’Oliveira.
D’Oliveira, despite his immense talent, couldn’t play for South Africa for the simple reason that he was coloured – and he represented England instead. In a free, democratic South Africa, there would be no such boundaries for Paul.
D’Oliveira’s legacy, which prompted South Africa’s international cricket isolation, is celebrated with the Basil D’Oliveira Trophy home and away Test series between South Africa and England.
This year, the occasion of the Tweede Nuwejaar Test at PPC Newlands will be used to honour D’Oliveira and will culminate in a fundraising dinner to build a new clubhouse for St Augustine – coincidentally where Moeen Ali, who will likely feature in the upcoming Test series, also played his club cricket.
For Paul, the simple clubhouse that still stands today and the lesser facilities at Saints didn’t hold him back.
“I stopped playing in my early 30s and I went into coaching at quite a young age. When my cricket career ended, I also had a young family. It was part of life’s journey – the more responsibility you have the more security you have and a certainty about things.
“Through time you learn to become more responsible and see the bigger picture rather than just looking at yourself.”
On the morning of our Friday Files interview, Paul is addressing business leaders at a Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry breakfast in the President’s Suite of the newly renamed PPC Newlands.
He is confident, serious and sure as he commands the audience’s attention. His demeanour is reflected in his team who listen intently as he speaks from the podium.
Just a year ago, I encountered the same team at an end-of-season function. The players were very different. They made light of everything, giggled and joked, and there was little focus.
Paul was very much the same in his playing days. But the carefree nature of his youth has given way to an intensity that shines through in the team ethic.
Later, Paul invites me to a practice session. He knows when to motivate and when to have a few laughs with the players.
“It’s always a tough one. I played with a lot of them for a couple of years. It’s a different relationship that you have to try and build. It hasn’t been as easy as it looks because I’m also still learning and going through a journey.
“I learned through experience, lessons, things I do and how they respond. I also need them to be honest with me about how they see things. It’s a two-way street. But for me it’s the understanding that there is a time and a place for things, that you don’t cross the line.
“They’re not your friends, they look up to you as a coach for guidance so you have to put yourself in that space so that when you make hard decisions they respect it.
“But there’s also a time and a place to have fun, which is my character and my personality. You don’t want to create an environment when the boys aren’t having fun.”
Paul went quiet for a while after retiring as a player. He later emerged as a TV commentator and then took up coaching, first at the Western Province and Boland academy, and then as a consultant for Cricket SA as spin coach.
“With commentating I stayed in touch with the game in terms of putting my views and opinion across. I was able to keep relationships intact within the cricketing fraternity.
“It’s been a good journey so far in coaching. In the coaching game the environment always changes, so you’re always facing different challenges and you have to be open-minded about the characters and how to face different people.
“People react differently to how you do things. There’s no real set way to treat a team. I rather adapt the style within the environment – that’s always a good way to go about it.
“There are progressive people working amongst us, thinking forward and giving people the space to take an opportunity. That’s important – you can give opportunities but then not back it up properly. It’s about giving people the space to grow in the field they want to excel at.
“We allow, as a team, for a young player to grow but to also have respect for the experienced guy. Our behaviour and how we go about things, how we talk, is important because it represents what the team stands for and what we are about.
“You can leave these things open-ended and if you don’t keep tabs on them it can go in all kinds of directions. The way things are evolving – and we know it as a team – is very positive. We’re working on it all the time and not neglecting what is happening.”
Paul is not just paying lip-service to the changes at PPC Newlands and within the team. The culture shift is the mantra of the recently-installed chief executive, Nabeal Dien. He will tell you that the philosophy is not just about preparing young cricketers to become excellent sportspeople, but to become excellent South Africans in life after cricket. Cricket is being used as a vehicle for change.
On the field, it is about moves like appointing a promising black player like Omphile Ramela (who also addressed the chamber breakfast) as the Cape Cobras captain for the four-day series. It’s not just Ramela’s leadership skills that count. His bat did the talking in last year’s four-day series and saw him lead the standings as the Cobras’ top run-scorer.
But it’s also evident in how the cricket association does its business. There are new vendors plying their trade in the stands – the types of businesses that were previously excluded from the economy.
There is a bigger purpose for the Cape Cobras that doesn’t end after the final ball of a match is bowled or the winning runs are scored.
Paul tells the chamber breakfast: “Over the past few years we’ve been a very successful team. We really looked at ourselves this winter and asked how can we advance as a team.
“First we looked at what is our team motto, which is ‘champions within’ – not just as a team but champions within our communities. There are also future champions in our communities.
“We looked at the purpose of the team. We want to play an exciting brand of cricket. No one likes cricket to be boring. How then are you going to get people into the stands?
“But most importantly, it is about inspiring the community and inspiring other cricketers to want to come and play at PPC Newlands and Boland Park for the Cape Cobras.”
But that’s just half the job done. Paul continues: “Then it’s important for us as well to link ourselves and engage with communities because that’s where our futures lie, that’s where we can inspire, that’s where we can grow people.
“As a sporting team we have the privilege to play out here and have the talent we’ve worked hard towards, but we really look to give back to our communities and really show our strength in diversity.
“We’re not a team of ‘these guys do this’ and ‘these guys do that’. It is as a unit that we show strength. With that we’ll leave a lasting legacy. If we continue to go about our business as sportsmen we will leave that lasting legacy and develop the future Proteas because ultimately this game never stops. We’re at one of the oldest grounds, yet this game keeps going, it keeps evolving.
“We want to keep that success going in the Western Cape. We have to keep on passing on knowledge like those who have passed on knowledge to us.
“We always ask how will we achieve this? It’s by being open and honest, to allow tough conversations, like in business, when you sit down in the boardroom with your partners and colleagues.
“It’s about respect for each other and the organisation, and respect for the communities, because ultimately those are the people who build your organisation and grow it.
“Most importantly, you have to have accountability and not pass the buck. Have self-introspection: what are you doing to inspire others? To grow others? No moaning and groaning. We have so many things in our lives to moan and groan about.”
Then Paul looks at me in the audience and says: “Sorry Gasant, we open the newspaper sometimes and there are a lot of bad things in it. Let’s turn that around and let’s grow our communities and let’s hear the good stories, the life stories of other people. With that comes mentorship and guiding others.
“But it’s also up to the mentees. It’s their responsibility to ask and not wait for someone to show them. You have to grab the mentors and ask what is going on and ask for help.”
Back in a private moment, Paul gets caught up in the nostalgia of his incredible past feats as an international cricketer.
Despite speckles of grey creeping into his hair, that youthful smile shines through once more.
“At 18, all I wanted to do was play and have a bit of fun and enjoy myself. That was my whole experience – me expressing myself as a cricketer, showing how I was a fighter and that I wanted to win all the time.
“It helped me focus on challenges and how to face obstacles when they arise. It’s the same motivation I use whenever things get thrown at me or the team: how do I get the guys thinking about solutions? When they’re on the field it’s about partnership building, not waiting for something but thinking about how we’re going to get around it and get an opponent out. Or we’ve lost wickets early and we need to bat through; how do we react as a team under pressure?
“When I first made the Proteas team it was like a craze… like a light that just sparked up somewhere. I think it gave a lot of people hope. It’s always talked about, being in the right place at the right time… but if an opportunity presents itself you have to grab it with both hands. It may never come again.”
The programme director, Ashraf Allie, suggested to the chamber audience that Paul was headed to the top as the next Proteas coach. Paul is modest yet pragmatic about the idea.
“I wouldn’t go into coaching if I didn’t have a long-term goal. I went in at academy level to one day get to provincial level, then franchise level, and then the ultimate goal: to be a Proteas or international coach.
“It’s always a big dream to have played for your country and then one day guide the country in that sport. It’s a big honour. It’s always there as a long-term goal in my mind. I’m preparing myself and putting myself under pressure.”
* Abarder is the editor of the Cape Argus
Cape Argus
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