Ngidi body blow for SA
‘SIGNIFICANT’ INJURY: FAST BOWLER OUT WITH KNEE LIGAMENT PROBLEM
Proteas selectors now need to revise plans for World Cup.
The Proteas’ preparations for next year’s World Cup in England received one of its biggest blows to date. Team management yesterday confirmed that Lungi Ngidi will be on the sidelines for three months after sustaining a knee injury.
The exciting 22-year-old quick had made a massive impression as an international bowler the past year and leaves a substantial void in South Africa’s bowling attack.
Ngidi damaged ligaments during last week’s one-off T20 against Australia.
“Lungi fell awkwardly while fielding during the T20 against Australia last Sunday. He underwent investigations and further assessments with knee specialists upon his return to South Africa, which revealed a significant ligament injury to the right knee,” said team doctor and manager Mohammed Moosajee.
“Due to the significant nature of the injury, he will require a minimum of 12 weeks of rest and rehabilitation to make a successful return to play.”
The headache for the Proteas is now that coach Ottis Gibson and captain Faf du Plessis had hoped to now merely fine-tune their attack for next year’s showpiece and seemed to have settled on the potent quartet of Ngidi, Kagiso Rabada, Dale Steyn and Imran Tahir.
Now, a replacement will need to be sought and given game-time, especially if Ngidi can’t return as expected for the series against Sri Lanka in March.
His MSL franchise, the Tshwane Spartans, will also need to acquire a replacement for the rest of the campaign.
Heinz Schenk
Last Sunday there was an interesting moment on TV commentary in the MSL match between the Paarl Rocks and Tshwane Spartans. Dominic Cork, the former England seamer, was on duty and made a pretty striking comment.
AB de Villiers had just arrived at the crease, prompting Cork to say: “I wonder if this man has ever felt out of form”.
It’s truly an innocent and understandable remark.
After all, we’re talking about “Mr 360” here – the man who can play every shot imaginable and also conjure up unimaginable batting feats.
This man hit an ODI century off 31 balls for goodness sake.
However, Cork’s commentary stirred me inside.
Not because De Villiers categorically states in his autobiography that he had his crises of confidence and still feels butterflies in the stomach when he bats.
I’ve watched all of the retired international’s innings in the MSL to date.
There’s no doubt he’s CSA’s major drawcard for this infant of a T20 tournament.
And, in my humble opinion, De Villiers is trying too hard.
He’s scored 101 runs in his first three innings, which is more than respectable, but I can’t agree with his great friend Faf du Plessis, who earlier this week said De Villiers is hitting the ball better than ever.
De Villiers has mixed the sublime with a substantial number of mistimed (by his standards) shots.
In Paarl, he seemed to have picked up a slower ball from Dwayne Bravo, yet didn’t seem to realise that he had to clear the long boundary of the ground and didn’t quite adjust accordingly.
During his 59 in the opening match against the Cape Town Blitz, there were a few deliveries where his frustration at not getting a desired result was clear.
Then there was Wednesday’s kicker: an attempted switch-hit reverse sweep, where he fell over and was trapped in front by the wily Keshav Maharaj.
On a day where the Spartans needed him to consolidate, impetuosity got the better of him.
I personally don’t think De Villiers is underestimating the bowlers.
Given how excited he’s been about playing, it seems more like he’s trying to fulfil everyone’s expectations. But he really doesn’t need to. I’d rather have him take 10 balls to have a look and then unleash.
Mr 360 doesn’t need to convince us of his supernatural batting powers.