Makhaya Ntini Profile by CricketArchive

---

Player:

M Ntini

---

DateLine: 20th February 2007

 

After a steady start Makhaya Ntini has transformed himself into one of the most skillful and hostile fast bowlers in the game. His strike rate and average in both Tests and ODIs are among the best for any contemporary bowler and he has this ability to run through any side with a spell of bowling that can terrorize the best of batsmen. Ntini’s action is clearly modeled on Malcolm Marshall and he has much of the West Indian’s qualities – the ripping yorker, the deadly bouncer, an occasionally well disguised slower one. But the most outstanding facet of his bowling is the ability to make the ball rise steeply, a disconcerting sight for even technically well equipped batsmen. The first black African cricketer to play for the country, Ntini became the first South African to take ten wickets in a Test at Lord’s in 2003. He demolished the West Indies in Trinidad in 2005 with 13 for 132 the best ever match figures by a South African bowler. In the last few years Ntini has gone from strength to strength underlined by impressive figures – 23 in five Tests in England in 2003, 25 in five Tests against England in 2004-05, 17 in four Tests in the West Indies in 2005, 19 in three Tests against Australia in 2005-06 and 20 in three Tests against New Zealand later the same season. The great thing about Ntini is that even in ODIs he displays the same hostility and has been rewarded with one of the best strike rates and averages among contemporary bowlers.When India toured South Africa at the end of 2006, Ntini topped the wickets tally in the Tests with 15, and just after that, when it was Pakistan's turn to visit for three Tests, he passed 300 wickets in a 19-wicket series. Ntini was unable to carry his hot streak into the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies, where he managed just six wickets from seven games. Was dropped for South Africa's last two games, an indication of just how poorly he was performing, and was comprehensively outbowled by Dale Steyn in South Africa's series against West Indies, scraping 10 wickets at an unhealthy 38.50. But he improved his average with another 10 wickets against India, and came back from a difficult start to play a vital role in South Africa's subsequent series win in England this year. After a decade at the top, he remains the side's premiere strike bowler.