JANDRE Coetzee has become the talk of the Home Counties Premier League after making a sensational start to his career with Finchampstead CC, writes Dave Wright.

And even the South African admits: “Things are going better than expected.”

With a remarkable 21 wickets in four games, he has turned Finch into one of the most powerful and feared sides in Division One.

It is perhaps too early to talk about them being title challengers, but all the other top sides are now looking over their shoulders in the direction of Finchampstead.

Their 122-run win over struggling Reading at the Memorial Ground last Saturday was their fourth success in a row.

Finch, who lost both of their opening two games, are up to third in the table, just seven points behind unbeaten leaders Banbury, whose home game with Henley last weekend was called off due to the pitch being too wet.

Their ​upsurge in form followed the arrival of 32-year-old Coetzee, who has taken more than 500 wickets in South African cricket.

The left-arm medium-fast bowler hit the ground running in England, taking 4-25 at Tring Park.

Then, on his home debut, he took a sensational 7-16 in 10 overs against Great & Little Tew, clean bowling all his victims.

He followed that up with 5-25 as Finch hammered previously unbeaten Henley by 141 runs on their home ground.

And then he added another five wickets to his tally against Reading, leaving him with a total of 21 wickets at a cost of just 115 runs.

“Yes, it has been a wonderful start; I can’t complain,” he admitted.

“I didn’t expect to make such a good start and hope it will continue.”

This is Coetzee’s seventh season in English cricket, having previously played for Suffolk club Sudbury, helping to to secure promotion to the Premier Division of the East Anglian ​ ​Premier League, and also for a couple of clubs in the Manchester area.

“Since I was last over here, I have been working on my bowling back home,” he added.

“I had a groin injury problem and I needed to adjust a few things.”

His fine tuning of his own game has turned him into a well-oiled bowling machine.

He swings the ball both ways and gets devastating movement off the seam ​ as well as in the air.

This has seen batsmen leaving his deliveries, only for the ball to cut back sharply and shatter the stumps.

“He can ​curve the ball like a banana,” ​commented wicket-keeper Sukhi Kang.

“He’s definitely up there among the best bowlers I have kept against.”

He says the pitches are softer in England than they are in his native country, and knows he has to work hard to get his wickets.

But he is a real workhorse, happy to bowl for 20 overs or more, making things even easier for Finchampstead skipper Dan Marles.

Marles added: “JC has certainly made a difference to the team. ​He has fitted in and bowled really well. ​ ​ ​“He doesn’t bowl any rubbish, so is really good to have him on board​. His partnership with Matt Carter is excellent.

“We have other bowlers in support and we now feel we are able to bowl sides out, which is really promising as we move further into the season.”

Coetzee, a Level Two coach, is also coaching at Finchampstead, and is grateful to his agent for fixing him up with the sociable village club.

“I am enjoying it here,” he told the News. “It has been a good move for me and I am happy.

“I always enjoy coming back to England; I love the greenness here.

“The club has a good bunch of young lads and things are going well for the team.

“I am glad we are going up the ladder so fast.”

Coetzee admitted that Finch were made to work hard by ​a Reading side who were losing their sixth game in seven.

“We had to bat harder than we had in two of our previous games and we (the bowlers) had to be patient when the wickets didn’t tumble in the first few overs,” he stated after the game.

“In my first two games here we bowled first and didn’t have to chase much, so it was good to bat first at Henley last week and here again today as it gave us the chance for us to get some runs on the board and then see if we can defend it as well, which we did.”

Finchampstead won both games comfortably and they will be looking to extend their winning run to five games when they visit third-from-bottom Slough this Saturday.