Makhaya Ntini
Talking about sports people reaching their expiry date, cricketer Makhaya Ntini’s seems to have had it after his performance against the English.
The Centurion Test match against England was the cricketer’s 100th Test but did not motivate for a good performance from Ntini.
And if he could not do so on such an illustrious stage as his centenary match, what price the 32-year-old markedly rectifying things just a few days further on at Kingsmead after five days of punishing Highveld sunshine?
Ironically, of course, Ntini was asked to send down the critical final over of the drawn thriller on Sunday.
I thought it was a fairly clever move, the possibility of a fairytale finish to the game for Ntini, on so symbolic an occasion, only cranking up the pressure on England’s last batsman Graham Onions.
It is history now that Ntini could not penetrate the No 11’s defence. Not that he was at fault in any major way — that’s cricket.
But Ntini, in broadest terms, has run low on gas, a bit like Shaun Pollock finally did after so many overs for South Africa. You cannot wish away the ravages of time, and there was even painful evidence of decline, in Ntini’s case, in lead-up fare in the SuperSport Series.
But not being carted is not enough. Strike bowlers have to … well, strike. And Ntini has not had a “five-for” since a dead-rubber Test against the very same opponents at the Oval in August 2008. Before that, it was Pakistan in January 2007.
On flattish decks, and never having been the type of bowler with a big box of varietal tricks, his 135km/h fare is beginning to look all too impotent; mere plug-an-end fare.
Two intelligent former England seamers, writing in their respective British organs on Monday, share this suspicion.
Mike Selvey wrote in the Guardian: “Ntini was out-bowled by the debutant. It will be hard to drop De Wet. The (final) ball to Onions … could be the last of Ntini’s illustrious career.
“Ntini’s pace was down. The single shooter in the final over, from one of the cracks in the pitch, was slow enough for Onions to jab down on.”
And Derek Pringle in the Daily Telegraph: “De Wet applied pressure (in his lethal burst on Sunday) by bowling fast down the corridor of uncertainty.
“South Africa were under-strength here and will have both Steyn and Jacques Kallis back bowling properly at Durban: Ntini is possibly the one to make way.”
Ntini has courageously defied odds against him before. Maybe he can do so again, and certainly all kudos to him if so.
