Proteas’ new face of pace awaits
A decade ago Makhaya Ntini ensured there would be no hundreds at Centurion when it mattered most to the Black Caps.
And as this year’s series decider with South Africa unfolds at the scene of one of Ntini’s finest achievements, the latest black cricketing role model is poised to prevent New Zealand creating history at SuperSport Park in Centurion.
While Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander’s impressive career stats against the Black Caps were well documented before the aborted test in Durban, the third – and junior – member of the Proteas pace attack figuratively hovered under the radar.
Kagiso Rabada, after all, never got a bowl during the dozen overs the Black Caps endured at Kingsmead, but with clear skies forecast over the Gauteng highveld for the duration, the 21-year-old from Johannesburg can anticipate a far greater role.
At some point he will operate in tandem with Steyn, who shared the new ball with Ntini when New Zealand played their first test at South Africa’s least appealing venue for visiting teams in April, 2006.
Ntini ended with a match analysis of 10-145 as the Black Caps, set what appeared a reasonable 249 for victory, collapsed to 28-6 before Brendon McCullum and Daniel Vettori at least carried the score to three figures before South Africa won by 128 runs.
Rabada has his own happy memories of the austere venue on the outskirts of Pretoria – in January the right-arm quick took 13-144 against England as South Africa salvaged a consolation victory at a ground where they have won 16 and lost just two of 21 tests at Centurion since its debut 1995.
The former under-19 World Cup winner now owns the second best match figures by a South African (Ntini’s 13-132 against the West Indies at Port of Spain in 2005 is the benchmark) although while they are close statistically, in other respects they are poles apart.
Ntini, the first black player to represent the Proteas when he debuted in an ODI against New Zealand in Perth in 1998, was discovered by a Boland Cricket Board development officer when the shoeless 15-year-old took a break from cattle herding in the Eastern Cape to bowl in the dirt at obscure Mdingi.
The son of a doctor, Rabada was educated at the exclusive St Stithian’s College in Sandton, where he tried a variety of sports before heeding the advice his grandmother gave him as a 10-year-old and focused on cricket.
The under-19 World Cup in Dubai in 2014 cemented Rabada’s reputation and in November last year he made his test debut in Mohali, India, where spinners shared the new ball in three of the four innings.
Undeterred by unhelpful conditions in the subcontinent Rabada hit the deck hard during three tests, perseverance that was rewarded in his first home series where he claimed 22 English wickets at 21.90.
Rabada’s poise and hostility swiftly made an impression with cricket fans and former stars – there has never been any suggestion he is a quota selection.
‘‘He has shown he is a grown man,’’ Ntini enthused after watching Rabada torment the English at Centurion by bowling in the 150kmh range.
‘‘I’m so excited. Happiness is understatement. He came back from the test series in India with no fear of anything.
‘‘He puts it out there that you are the one that should fear me now, not me being worried about who I am bowling to.’’