Date-stamped : 22 Nov97 - 14:49

22nd November 1997

Ntini goes from rags to riches

By Peter Robinson

Expect to see a lot of Makhaya Ntini on TV this summer, grinning
cheerfully at the camera and saying: "I don't like Cricket, I
love it."

Ntini's sudden inclusion in the touring squad to Australia this
week is quite obviously too good an oppurtunity for the UCB to
miss, especially as they already have the the commercial in the
can. When the UCB filmed the advertisement, which features Ntini
dodging cows as he runs in to bowl in a village match, they
clearly had high hopes for the 20-year old Border seamer, but
not even Ali Bacher could have imagined how soon the dreams
would become reality.

It is a curious aspect of Ntini's call up to Australia that
while the original choice of Roger Telemachus was greeted with
some reservations, the selection of Ntini has been met with
almost universal delight.

His is a literal rags-to-riches story. In 1993, when he was
discovered by Border development officer Raymond Booi, he
possessed not boots, nor plimsolls, nor even a pair of socks to
bowl in. His first boots and socks were bought for him by 
Border's Greg Hayes during a PG Wood under-15 week in Queenstown
after he had arrived in borrowed footwear, and from there on in
it has been all up for Ntini. By the way of Dale College, where
he learned to speak English, Ntini moved up to the SA under-19
side and then into the Border provincial team.

Most remarkable, though, has been the progress made by Ntini
over the course of this year. When he played against England 2
years ago and for Border last season, he looked a capable if 
sometimes erratic medium-pacer.

Weight training in the gym at the Border academy and attention
from English coach Richard Pybus brought him back this season,
however, at least a couple of yards quicker.

"He's got himself organised," said Border coach Stephen Jones.
"For 4 months he built up his strength and concentrated on his
delivery stride. He's also more chest-on now. He hardly bowled
off more than about 5 metres while this was happening, and I
think he's started to understand his action and the game."

Jones added that Ntini was also taught to use the width of the 
crease when he attended the SA training camp at the beginning
of the season. But what Jones says, what everybody at Border
believes and what the South Africans hope is that Ntini has the
hunger and the drive to make an impact at the highest level.

Ntini himself was sill in a state of no little shock on Thursday
afternoon, just before flying out to Australia and still less
than 24 hours after hearing of his inclusion in the squad.

"It's very nice to be here," he said softly. "The guys are all
really pleased to see me. I'll do my best with them and I'll be
working hard. It's a big chance for me. Maybe next season I'll
be the main bowler to be picked."

He claimed he wasn't nervous, well, not too nervous "but there
is something there". So there should be considering that for 5
years all Makhaya had going for him were vague, scarcely 
realisable dreams. Then "I found out that Cricket was going to
be my career".

If all this seems like something out of a fairytale, it probably
is. The village show in the UCB commercial is Mdinge, a hamlet
some 15km from King William's Town where Ntini found himself
interested in Baker's Mini Cricket, but also a bit too big and
too old for the undersized bats.

In the aftermath of apartheid, there has arisen a peculiar
hierarchy in the development of cricket in this country where
some underprivileged cricketers are perhaps a little less
underprivileged than others. Thus the likes of Paul Adams and
Herschelle Gibbs and even Telemachus are not quite products of
the development programme.

Ntini, though, is the genuine article. Not that the subleties
and the nuances of that matter much to him. What is important
is his ambition and and the debt and obligation which he feels
he owes the development programme.

"I'll never leave Border," he says. "I owe so much to so many
people. East London has the best development program in South
Africa, I couldn't leave those guys behind."
Neither is national coach Bob Woolmer unaware of the implication
of Ntini's selection.

"It would be unfair to say that Ntini is a better cricketer than
Fanie de Villiers," said Woolmer. "But we were only going to 
take 15 to Australia, plus an apprentice to learn his trade. It
was going to be between Telemachus and Ntini, so if you look at
it in that light, it won't make him any less of a player when he
gets out there.

"It's also going to be nice to be able to blood a youngster
because we have to look 5 years down the line to when, for
example, Allan Donald is finishing off. It would be nice to have
blooded 2 or 3 new bowlers before the end of the England tour
next year.

"There's no point in bringing Makhaya along just for the ride.
He'll be expected to play a full part in the tour. I'd like to
see him play in some of the one-day internationals. He'll feature
in the 4-day games and the upcountry games, but if he wants to
play in the test team he'll have to fight his way in like
everyone else. No one walks into the test side.

"But it's fantastic to get him when he's only 20. We'll build him
up, get him fit and teach him the finer points of the game and at
the end of it, I think we'll see another young star in the
making," said Woolmer.

Source:: The Saturday Star

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