VB Series - 1st final
Wednesday, February 6, 2002

Makhaya Ntini pumps his fist in the air four times, takes off his green cap with the slow deliberateness he specialises in, and salutes the crowd. Andre Adams has holed out to Lance Klusener at square leg and Ntini has his fifth wicket - 5 for 31, the best figures by a South African this season, and his personal best in one-day internationals. Which means more than it possibly should.

It has been a constant refrain in this tournament that all the South African bowlers are the same – right arm, medium fast. There is one with an obvious difference. Ntini is black.

This should have no bearing on anything except that he plays for South Africa, where colour has threatened to split the game as it once split the nation. The fallout from apartheid, the quota system, the new UCBSA president Percy Sonn and his taste for controversy, the forthcoming World Cup, the alleged dissatisfaction of senior players, the disillusionment of young blacks - a litany of leftovers from a terrible history.

What Ntini has done in this series is to prove his worth as a one-day player. As great a judge as Richie Benaud has been singing his praises, and although the wickets did not flow until today, he has consistently shown an economy that some had thought was beyond him. Five times out of eight, he has bowled nine or 10 overs for 36 or less.

In the Tests in Australia, Ntini was unlucky but unspectacular. But from South Africa's first one-day game, here in Melbourne on January 13, he has made the ball sting. There, bowling second change, he bounced Steve Waugh, forcing him to shadowbox the ball. Maybe he was encouraged by the change in the bouncer law, or maybe it all just fell into place.

Today, he took the new ball with Shaun Pollock, and to the accompaniment of a kwaito song (a South African mix of township rap and rock music), he ran in like a tree bent by years of buffetting, arms down low, robotic. Then came that awkward delivery stride and exaggerated fall away to the left. The walk back to his mark was 12 strides of slow deliberateness. His trousers were slightly short, so his white boots winked like cat's-eyes.

Lou Vincent was surprised by Ntini's pace and bounce and got an outside edge that ballooned to Jonty Rhodes at backward point; Nathan Astle prodded unsurely and was caught by Jacques Kallis at slip. Ntini took the wickets calmly in his stride. After six overs that had brought him 2 for 17, he was off, and Fleming and McMillan hummed along to a 109-run partnership. It wasn't until the 33rd over that anyone else took a wicket. Then Ntini came back and was too good for Nash, Parore and Adams.

He hasn't had an easy life. He was born in Mdingi, a township outside East London, and didn't have a pair of bowling boots until he was 14. When he tried playing in them for the first time, on the concrete surface of a net, he collapsed in a heap on sparks – which is where the peculiar chest-on action comes from. He won a cricket scholarship to Dale (a prestigious private school), rose through the development programme with Mark Boucher and made his debut for South Africa at Perth in 1997-98.

Then came the fall – the rape trial, a conviction and subsequent acquittal on appeal. When he returned to the South African side in 2000, he was abused by the crowds, especially whites. But he survived, a loud, proud man, and as his profile rose, so did his popularity, especially with children. He can be seen after every game signing pages of autographs. When he toured West Indies in April last year, he was a huge star. A woman even phoned the UCB to ask what Makhaya meant (it means my home) because she was going to name her new baby after him.

He had a good home summer a year ago against New Zealand and Sri Lanka, with 23 wickets at 19, but this was his finest hour. That only 16,500 people turned up is more than a pity. But millions will have felt the force.

Tanya Aldred is assistant editor of Wisden.com.

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