WHAT’S ON LUNGI NGIDI
WHEN Lungi Ngidi made his return from a stress fracture of his lower back, which had kept him off the playing field for four months, in October 2017, it was explosive.
He took three wickets in 10 balls on a lively Wanderers track against the HIghveld Lions, within half an hour of the match starting. Yesterdays’ return in the One-Day Cup after three months out with a knee injury, wasn’t as combustible, but it crackled. For now, that is good enough.
His return at Centurion yesterday was of great interest to all involved with the national team. Ottis Gibson and Faf du Plessis – down in Durban preparing for the first Test against Sri Lanka – will, if they didn’t watch, make time to do so at some point.
What they see will please them. First Ngidi got through nine overs – broken up into four spells – without any outward discomfort from the knee injury picked up in a one-off T20 against Australia last November. Second his bowling, for someone given such an extended period on the sidelines, was excellent.
His opening overs yesterday were understandably loose, and in fact his first wicket, that of Grant Mokoena, was with a wretched delivery, short and wide, which the Knights opener did well to reach.
His second wicket came as a result of an error from the batsman too, with the Knights’ other opener Andries Gous trying to pull one that bounced steeply and which he gloved behind to Heinrich Klaasen.
Ngidi’s last spell came at the “death” where he mixed up his pace effectively, controlled his length properly too and conceded just 11 runs in his last two overs.
Before that period, the Knights’ innings was dominated by two batsmen. Keegan Petersen, the highest run-scorer in this season’s Four-Day Franchise Series transferred that form to the 50-over format with an excellent maiden limitedovers century.
He was striking the ball crisply from the moment he arrived at the crease, but had to reign himself in, as wickets fell quickly at the other end. The Knights were in deep trouble at 88/5 in the 21st over when Petersen was joined by veteran allrounder Ryan McLaren. Together the pair added 174 runs for the sixth wicket, a new record for the One-Day Cup. Petersen finished on 107 not out. McLaren, playing his 202nd limited-overs match, was not out on 80, pacing his innings superbly, facing 83 balls and hitting seven fours and a six. Ngidi finished with 2/35, but there was some disciplined work from the spinners Shaun von Berg (0/45) and Tabraiz Shamsi (1/48).
The Titans made mincemeat of the chase against a very poor Knights attack. Opener Tony de Zorzi scored a careerbest 115 not out and Henry Davids (84) shared a stand of 179 in 26.4 overs. Heino Kuhn added an unbeaten 52 as the Titans won with 68 balls to spare, earning a bonus point in the process.