by Arunabha Sengupta

“I doubt whether any international cricket team has begun an overseas tour in such an atmosphere of gloom and pessimism as the 1952–53 South African side to Australia,” wrote Johnnie Moyes about Jack Cheetham’s men.
Dudley Nourse had retired, the Rowans were not available, Tufty Mann had tragically died … the inexperienced South Africans looked real pushovers. The Australian Board turn snooty, asking South African Cricket Association to cover all the costs of the tour. It was considered too great a financial risk for the hosts to sponsor what would clearly be a mismatch.
Skipper Jack Cheetham, veteran of the battlefield, analytical as befits his profession as an engineer. Ken Viljoen, former Test cricketer and canny manage. They hatched plans to bridge the gap of experience and talent with tactics .
Danie Craven, the Springbok rugby great, was engaged to draw up a fitness regimen. The routines were diligently implemented during the voyage on the Dominion Monarch.
The captain and coach astutely mixed rigid army discipline with light-hearted implementation for the benefit of the side.
Moreover, the available technology was used to the hilt. John Watkins and Headley Keith even had cine shots taken of their batting and bowling at the nets to study and work on the faults. Jackie McGlew and Roy McLean batted on concrete wickets, arranging for the fastest bowlers of the locality to hurl down short-pitched balls in order to perfect their hook shots.
During late evenings, Cheetham and Viljoen spent their time studying the scoring charts prepared by Bill Ferguson.
The series ended 2-2 against the great Australian side of the Hassetts, Harveys, Lindwalls and Millers. In contrast to the predictions of Moyes, Fingleton’s post mortem read: “South Africa may become the cock of the cricketing walk.”

The South African Cricket Association, pleasantly surprised by the success of the team, asked Cheetham, McGlew, Endean, and Viljoen to document the secret of their success for future South African sides. Linking the names of the captain and the coach, Viljoen called it The Vilcheet Plan.

It was a similar story in 1963-64. Trevor Goddard and John Waite were the only ones of the old brigade chugging along. Like Cheetham’s men of 1952–53, they were not given a chance. Like Cheetham’s men of 1952–53, they had Ken Viljoen as manager. Like Cheetham’s men of 1952–53, Goddard’s Cinderellas drew the series

Viljoen had not been a very successful batsman in his long career that stretched on both sides of the Second World War. Nevertheless, he got two excellent hundreds, against Grimmett and Ironmonger at MCG and against Bowes, Tate, Verity and Robins at Old Trafford.
As coach, though, he was one of the most successful. He could be strict and over-critical. He could be a hard task master. But he generally got the results. One of the key figures behind the competitive South African sides of the 1950s and 1960s.

Ken Viljoen was born on 14 May 1910.