Exclusive: Wandile Gwavu from Township Dreams to Proteas Success and Why South Africa is Closer Than Ever to ICC Glory

Proteas white-ball fielding coach, Wandile Gwavu, has come a long way to getting to the national set-up. 

He went from coaching at the grassroots level to helping South Africa to one final and two semi-finals in ICC events in two years. 

Gwavu's journey to the Proteas

While South Africa is known for producing some of the world's greatest talents such as Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers, Makhaya Ntini and Dale Steyn, the country has produced some of the world's leading coaches.

From the likes of Gary Kirsten, who helped India win the 2011 World Cup, to Mickey Arthur, who has coached various top national teams.

Following in the same boots is 36-year-old Wandile Gwavu, who, besides growing up in the townships, has worked his way up to the Proteas coaching staff.

Gwavu currently employs his trade in coach Rob Walter's white ball coaching staff as the fielding coach, although his impact goes far beyond the boundaries of fielding.

On his way to the national set-up, Gwavu paid his dues in the grassroots level coaching Eastern Province age groups teams before going on to join the Gauteng Province, where he soon graduated to the SA under-19 assistant coach role under head coach Lawrence Mahatlane.

His next chapter would see him take over the assistant coach role at the Lions' senior team, where he worked under the now Cricket South Africa Director of Cricket Enoch Nkwe, who then was head coach of the Lions.

Nkwe and Gwavu worked alongside each other for a little over a year, during which they won two trophies before Nkwe moved on to the national set-up, leaving Gwavu in charge at the Lions.

As head coach, Gwavu won five trophies in four years with the Lions, helping the Johannesburg-based side dominate domestic cricket while unearthing talents of the likes of Ryan Rickelton, to name a few.

In an exclusive interview with SportsBoom.co.za, Gwavu expressed gratitude for the two years he has spent with the Proteas, during which he has played an important hand in leading the team to one final and two semi-finals in ICC events.

"The past two years have been nothing short of exciting. (Growing up in the townships) it was always our dream to represent our country either on the field or off the field. Luckily enough, I managed to get myself on the field in Pakistan in the 12th over," Gwavu told SportsBoom.co.za. 

"But just reflecting on the past two years, they've been exciting and there's been a lot of growth that has taken place. I'm nothing short of being grateful and appreciative of the opportunity that I've received."

"I'm hoping that I can stay there a bit longer and continue learning and, more importantly, add value within the team which is one thing that I pride myself in trying to better the team in my space and whatever way that I can."

"It's been really exciting and one thing that I will say is we definitely do feel as a unit that we're getting closer to winning that ICC event more than anything. We're not as far as a lot of people might think."

"I think we're really closer and it's just a couple of things that we probably need to do better to get over the line. But we're definitely closer than what we think."

Building for the future

The critics of the current coaching regime have only had one point to raise, and that is how the Proteas have lost many bilateral series.

The side has lost series to Pakistan at home and away from home against Afghanistan, a side that many would expect South Africa would beat with relative ease.

However, Gwavu emphasised that there is a method to the madness. The method is to use bilateral series to expose the next generation of players while allowing the more established players to rest and also tap into the lucrative franchise T20 leagues.

"We always play every game to win but the reality is leading up to every ICC event, the one mistake you don't want to make is just play the same team over and over and then an injury happens and you're looking around and you don't have all your players," said Gwavu.

"In terms of the mindset of how we approach the World Cups or the ICC events compared to bilateral series, the mindset is always the same."

"We want to win every series that we're playing and whilst doing that, we're looking to find a way to plug in some young players or some new players into the Proteas team to prepare them for the ICC events when their time comes and not be caught with our pants down when the time comes and you don't really have replacements."

"We're definitely looking to be the best in every series that we're playing, and unfortunately, the results haven't been really on our way, especially in the ODI and T20 bilateral series."

"But when it comes to those ICC events, as we've seen, we just managed to find that extra gear that every team is looking for, and we've managed to get ourselves into these playoffs."

"The fact that we've been making sure that we're getting into those playoffs says that we've been playing some really good cricket. So a lot of credit has to be given to our players," he concluded.