Neil Adcock and Peter Heine – South African quickies who hunted in pairs
Bharat Raj writes on Adcock and Heine in a special article for our visitors. HR Gopala Krishna has certain inputs to this article
Right from the inception of test cricket in 1877, it is a known fact that the fast bowlers have hunted in pairs – Larwood and Voce, Trueman and Statham {though for a brief period England had the services of the lightning quick bowler Tyson} Mohammad Nissar and Amar Singh, Thomson and Lillee, Imran Khan and Sarfraz Nawaz, to name a few pairs of the yester years. McGrath and Gillespie, Wasim Akaram and Waqar Younis, Ambrose and Walsh along with Bishop for a brief period, Shaun Pollock and Allan Donald and to a lesser extent Gough and Caddick are the pairs which hunted the batsmen in eighties and nineties.
There are always exceptions to any rule and this can be applied to West Indies team which had four great fast bowlers in late seventies and mid eighties in Malcolm Marshall, Andy Roberts, Joel Garner and Michael Holding.
New Zealand and India in the eighties relied on Richard Hadlee and Kapil Dev to get early wickets. Kapil Dev and Manoj Prabhakar formed a reliable hunting pair for India in these years. Yes, the Indian team had four very good spinners in the past like Chandra, Bedi, Prasanna and Venkat, but we are talking about quick bowlers hunting in pairs.
One more pair that can be added to the list can be NAT Adcock and Peter Heine. Both played together in only twelve tests but they did make their impact in international cricket.
NAT Adcock made his first-class debut for Transvaal against Natal in Durban in 1952-53. He played for the first time for South Africa at home against New Zealand at Durban in 1953-54 and in his first series itself he showed his mettle by capturing 24 wickets. He had two five wicket hauls in his debut series – 5 for 43 in the second innings at Jo’burg in Dec 53 and 5 for 45 in second innings at Jo’burg in Jan 54.
NAT Adcock’s devastating five wickets haul – 5 for 43 in the second innings at Jo’burg in Dec 53 ensured South Africa’s win by 132 runs. He had a match haul of 8 for 87 in this test {3 for 44 and 5 for 43}. His five for 45 in second innings at Jo’burg in Jan 54 ensured South Africa’s victory in this test by nine wickets
It was the series in which he hit Sutcliffe on his head {in the test at Jo’burg in the first innings in Dec 53} which showed that NAT Adcock was a fearsome bowler. Sutcliffe did come back and scored a brave 80 not out against the bowling attack which comprised of NAT Adcock, DEJ Ironside, ARA Murray and TJ Tayfield .
It was said to be test cricket at its best as there was a fearsome quick bowler bowling very quick and on the other end there was a batsman who was willing to fight it out though he was injured.
NAT Adcock was the first South African pace bowler to capture 100 wickets in tests. He finished with his test career with 104 wickets at a miserly average of 21.10 runs per wicket.
NAT Adcock reportedly had a smooth rhythmic action which put a minimum tax on his energy. He is said to have the ability to use his height to get awkward bounce from a good length.
Adcock was named as Wisden Cricketer of the year 1961. Wisden has this to say on Adcock’s run up and action.
“Unlike many fast bowlers NAT Adcock does not employ a pronounced movement of the body at the point of delivery. He bowls without interruption in the course of his run, swinging his arm on a trunk that is virtually upright — like a sudden gust turning a light windmill”
He continued to have success as he had a great time against England in 1955 as well as in 1956/57 and did reasonably well against Australia in 1957/58. He had his share of injuries but in 1960 he proved his detractors wrong by succeeding in England and that was the time when South Africa had troubles with the other quick bowler called Griffen as he was no balled for chucking and was withdrawn from the series. It didn’t deter NAT Adcock from taking 26 wickets in that series. Yes, he did have his critics who always thought that he had a tendency to bowl short but looking at his records and reading about what others had to say about him there is no doubt that he would get a place in the South African all time team.
If we talk about his hunting partner for 12 tests, Peter Heine it is said that he wasn’t quick or fearsome like NAT Adcock, nevertheless was said to be a lion-hearted bowler. He supported NAT Adcock well against England in 1955 and 1956/57 and against Australia in 1957/58. Actually the records show that Heine did better than NAT Adcock in 1957/58 against Australia.
Former South African bowler Peter Pollock on Heine said thus – “Adcock was quicker but Heine put the heat into the combination.”
The performance of both NAT Adcock and Heine helped South Africa to challenge England in 55 as well as in 1956/57. Actually in 1956/57 at home South Africa were able to draw the series against a pretty good England side. The opposition had the likes of Statham, Tyson, Cowdrey, May, Wardle and Laker in their line up. One has to add that South Africa also had the services of perhaps their greatest spinner in Tayfield who had a great series with the ball in 1956/57 against England.
Both NAT Adcock and PS Heine played their last series against the Kiwis in 1962. Yes, NAT Adcock and PS Heine didn’t play too many tests together but when they played together, the opponent batsman had greater worries in negotiating these quickies.
Peter Heine made his test debut against England at Lord’s in 1955 and on his first day of his international career captured five wickets conceding 60 runs. His bag of wickets had – Tom Graveney, Peter May, Denis Compton, Ken Barrington and Godfrey Evans
A big aggressive, Heine was not afraid to pitch it short. He once reputedly snarled at Trevor Bailey that “I want to hurt you” in one of his most sustained spells against England. He finished with 58 wickets in 14 tests. His best innings bowling effort was 6 for 58 against Australia at Johannesburg in 1957-58.
Storioes of aggression of Heine are many. Here is one for our visitors – After felling Peter Richardson, the England opener, in 1956-57 series, he allegedly said: “ Get up, I want to hit you again”
PS Heine breathed his last on 04.02.05 at the age of 76.