Ntini to Rabada: fun will protect you from politics
THIRTY-seven deliveries into his international career, Kagiso Rabada has bowled 14 dot balls, no maidens and one wide, conceded 52 runs, been hit for six fours and a six, and taken one wicket.
The six, which was launched by Shane Watson, flew over Rabada’s head and cleared, just, Adelaide Oval’s straight boundary on Wednesday. It was the last ball of Rabada’s three overs.
The wicket followed at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday. Glenn Maxwell unleashed a roundhouse hoik and the top edge looped to backward point, where Rilee Rossouw held the catch. This time, it was the second-last ball of Rabada’s three overs.
On Wednesday Rabada bounded in and let fly like the fast bowler he — and all of SA — hopes he will grow into. A return of 3-0-27-0 does not square with that assessment, but since when has cricket been about numbers?
On Friday, he struggled to find rhythm, and with it a way to exploit the pace and carry in the pitch. This time 3-0-25-1 flattered him.
Rabada had better get used to microscopic interest in his performances. Rightly or wrongly, fairly or not, whether he or anyone else likes it or dislikes it, he is the scion of his generation of SA cricketers. And on more levels than any 19-year-old should have to deal with. But Makhaya Ntini wants to add to his load.
“I know he’s a youngster and he probably thinks he shouldn’t be running around and having fun while he is being watched by millions of South Africans, and he wants to do his family and his country proud,” Ntini said.
“But he needs to change his body language. He must try to have fun. He needs to show that he is enjoying his cricket.”
Ntini has been there and done that and much more, and he looked like he was having the time of his life throughout his 101 tests, 173 one-day in-
I never worried about the politics. I didn’t know what was happening behind the scenes; I didn’t engage with it
ternationals and 10 T20s. But there was method to his seeming madness, and he wants to hand that lesson to Rabada.
“What helped me to continue playing and to have fun and enjoy my cricket was that I never put politics ahead of my bowling,” Ntini said.
“Politics are politics, and Rabada must make sure he doesn’t get involved with that. He needs to concentrate on his performance. Whoever says what, he needs to stick to what he knows he is good at.
“That helped me throughout my career — I never worried about the politics. I didn’t know what was happening behind the scenes; I didn’t engage with that.”
The age gap of 18 years between the two bowlers will likely give Ntini what he is asking of Rabada.
“To me it (race) is irrelevant,” Rabada told the Sydney Morning Herald this week. “I know the history, but I didn’t live through that era so I don’t know what it’s like.”
Ntini rose from Mdingi to play his first match for SA four years after Nelson Mandela was elected president. Rabada, whose father is a doctor, was born the year after the advent of democracy.
Rabada is tall and quick. Ntini was stocky and relentless. Race may be all that connects them. And that, sports lovers, is progress.