Gerald Coetzee: A scary all-round package in the making

He has a scary aura about him. He tirelessly hurls the ball in at speeds north of 145kph. He often gets it to skid even faster off the pitch and has batters contorting into awkward positions. He has demons dancing in his eyes and veins popping out of his forehead when he celebrates. Dale Steyn used to do that, remember? His headband only adds to that aura.

At 23, Gerald Coetzee is the highest wicket-taker among fast bowlers in the middle overs, in his first-ever World Cup. This is also his first senior tour of India, but he has exceeded expectations, bagging ten wickets in five matches between overs 11 and 40. The next best during this phase has only eight wickets, despite having played one match more than Coetzee. Overall, only Adam Zampa (13) and Mitchell Santner (11) have more wickets than Coetzee during this phase.

Coetzee might not have played had Anrich Nortje or Sisanda Magala been fit and available for selection. During this World Cup, South Africa have also had to deal with niggles to Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi. But Coetzee has seized his chance and announced himself with breakout performances. His middle-over scalps include Jos Buttler, Harry Brook, Sadeera Samarawickrama and Mohammad Rizwan.

The takedown of Rizwan - and the softening up of Pakistan captain Babar Azam - in Chennai highlighted the potent point of difference that Coetzee brings to South Africa's attack, regardless of conditions. After having Rizwan hopping, Coetzee got one to take off like a rocket from a short of a length and had him top-edging it behind. He gave Rizwan no time to hook or sway his upper body out of the way. In the same over, Coetzee banged a bouncer into Babar's armpit and rendered him powerless.

In the middle overs, only Mark Wood, Lockie Ferguson, Haris Rauf, and Paul van Meekeren have bowled more short or short-of-a-good length deliveries than Coetzee in this World Cup, according to ESPNcricinfo's logs, but they have lacked Coetzee's ability to strike repeatedly. He does tend to be expensive - no other fast bowler has given more runs via boundaries than him in this World Cup - but Coetzee hasn't veered away from his attacking approach.

Former South Africa allrounder Albie Morkel, who has worked with Coetzee at Jo'burg Super Kings in the SA20 and Texas Super Kings in the MLC, is particularly impressed with that approach to fast bowling.

"If you look at Gerald, the intensity he bowls with, it's very high," Morkel tells ESPNcricinfo. "He obviously trains hard like most bowlers but the intensity he brings to the attack in those periods…he's trying to take wickets and he bowls a lot of short balls. He's trying to intimidate the batsmen and it seems to be working. If you have that wicket-taking mindset like him - even if he goes for runs, he still sticks to his guns and tries to take wickets. I think that's making him successful.

"A lot of other bowlers…if you go for runs early in your over or early in your spell, you tend to sort of take your foot off the gas and rather protect the runs and not have that mindset of taking wickets. So, I think he's got that ability to look past runs and maybe that's his job in the team - he's there to take wickets, even if he leaks [runs]. But I think he will also get better as his career develops. He can hit those good areas more consistently and still have that attacking mindset."

Morkel recalls a SA20 game at the Wanderers in February, when Coetzee offered up two sixes off his first two balls to Paarl Royals' Buttler but then bounced back to have the batter's leg stump cartwheeling third ball. The bash-through-the-line Wanderers pitch and its smaller boundaries can fluster most bowlers. But Coetzee isn't most bowlers. That's why he was one of JSK's direct signings ahead of the inaugural SA20 auction.

"We got rained out that game, but I think Jos hit him for a six and a six," Morkel recounts. "And then Gerald bowled him. That's the point I'm trying to make. Many bowlers - I can probably speak for myself as well - when a batsman tries to take you down, your mindset plays the biggest role. If you can still be aggressive and try to get the guy out, that's a much better space to be in rather than to just try and defend the over.

"When batters play like that, they will give opportunities. But if you bowl easier balls on a fuller length - that's what the batters want…but Gerald isn't that type of a guy. He'd rather try and get you out. Bowling in India in the World Cup has so far been tough - the wickets are great, there have been high scores, and the fields are generally smaller than what you get in Australia or whatever, so as a bowler, if you take your foot off the gas, it can be a long day for you. Gerald seems to have that knack of keeping on coming at you, which is a great skill and attribute to have."

While being aggressive is Coetzee's default response to batters, he has also been working on his defensive skills in order to become a more versatile bowler. For instance in the MLC, he was open to bowling from around the wicket and knocked Aaron Finch over with a slower dipper from that angle.

"That's an area where improvement is needed - the variations," Morkel says. "He has that nice slower ball - the cutter that he rolls across the ball - which actually dips quite nicely and that's how he got Finch out in that game. I think if he can perfect that - I'm not being too critical - but sometimes the ball ends up as a full-toss, which is then an easy hit for the batter.

"If you can perfect that ball with a good bouncer, those are good weapons to have. That's something we've worked on and that's something he wants to do. To bowl in the death to top batters these days, it's not easy. So, as a bowler, you have to want to do that job. He's one of those guys who will grow into that role pretty nicely and he will become a full package then. Bowling pace at the death with variations - there're not many guys who can do that."

Coetzee is also capable of doing some damage with the bat lower down the order. In a List A match against Sri Lanka A in Pallekele earlier this year, he had top-scored for South Africa A with 77 off 89 balls after having come in at 42 for 7 against an attack that included Dilshan Madushanka, Dunith Wellalage and Lakshan Sandakan. Morkel feels that Coetzee has enough potential to become a bowling allrounder in the future.

"Batting is something Gerald works very hard on," Morkel says. "I believe that he can become a proper No. 8 and win games with power-hitting but also play the ball around the park. I've worked a little bit with him on the batting with JSK and also at the MLC. There're still technical things he needs to get a hold of, but from a talent point of view, I believe he can be a proper package."

That version of Coetzee will be even more scary.