New Delhi: Hand held up in apology to Brad Evans for the high full toss to the Zimbabwe batter, Lungi Ngidi walked up to Aiden Markram to show his hand to the South Africa skipper fielding at mid-off and explain the ball had slipped off his hand. But the fast bowler has been so brilliant in this T20 World Cup that Evans couldn’t even connect with the ‘free hit’.
Mention fast-bowling royalty and it conjures up images of the West Indies in their pomp in the 1970s and 80s. Their mastery invoked awe among fans and fear among rival batters. The Caribbean speed merchants took that strength into the first three ODIs, winning two and finishing runners-up in the third in 1983.
South Africa has consistently produced great fast bowlers. But T20 cricket is no place to demand respect for sheer pace, unless those ‘arrows’ are tipped with potency and unpredictability. That is where the Proteas fast bowlers have stood out in an unbeaten campaign that has taken them into the semi-finals against New Zealand in Kolkata.
On a bright Sunday afternoon in the final Super 8 game against eliminated Zimbabwe, South Africa fast bowlers put on another exhibition of control while producing deliveries that caught the batters by surprise. A crowd of around 20,000 witnessed 16 overs of quality quick bowling on a Ferozeshah Kotla track that offered little assistance to the pacers.
Apart from Kagiso Rabada, Marco Jansen, Ngidi and Corbin Bosch, Anrich Nortje has also left his stamp in the games he has played.
South Africa’s pace riches have been such that the 32-year-old Nortje played only his second match of the tournament. But in a mini spell against Zimbabwe’s prolific opener Brian Bennett – two dot balls and a third with more pace surprised him as it exploded onto his bat off the deck, causing him to tamely hole out to mid-off. Zimbabwe skipper Sikandar Raza, walking in was met with one that had him in a tangle. Beaten on the inside edge, the flap of the pad somehow deflected the ball away from the stumps.
Ngidi has become the leader. His dismissal of Ryan Burl took him to 90 T20I wickets, surpassing Tabraiz Shamsi (89). Rabada, who was rested along with Jansen, is next with 82 scalps. Burl was trapped lbw, the latest in the tournament to fall victim to Ngidi’s patent slower one, fingers rolled but with barely any change of action that batters can pick up early.
“We might not have left the shores of South Africa with a mystery spinner, but I think we’ve got a mystery seamer in Lungi Ngidi who almost fills that role for us in the middle and in the Powerplay as well,” South Africa coach Shukri Conrad told the post-match media conference.
Having the full complement of fast bowlers fit and firing has propelled South Africa. Of the 52 wickets taken by bowlers in the seven matches (all wins) so far, 82% (43) have gone to the pacemen. Nine wickets have fallen to spin with four run outs. While fast bowlers tweak and add variations to make their pace bowling T20 ready, Conrad attributes the success to old virtues.
“Our bowling attack was fashioned in such a way that we’ve got wicket-taking options and that’s something that we’ve driven, especially with guys like KG (Rabada), and Marco especially. Their impact in the match will be through taking wickets,” he said. “And Boshie has done exceptionally well, bowling at the death, nailing his yorkers.”
“They’re all Test match bowlers so bowling a Test match length doesn’t come difficult to them. And I think that’s still a really tough length to hit consistently. You might hit it once or twice, but you’ve got to be really on top of your game to hit that continually and continuously.”
While seasoned left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj and off-spinner George Linde complete the bowling department, the one area that could test South Africa with potentially two matches to go is while facing slow bowling if pitches don’t have much pace. The wily Raza exposed that aspect a bit. Quinton de Kock nicked behind first ball and Raza then flicked one with the thumb, Anil Kumble style, getting it to skid and slip under Markram’s bat to hit off-and-middle.
Conrad acknowledged that it “wasn’t plain sailing” while being happy Tristan Stubbs and Linde got the chance to seal the five-wicket win and put SA on top of the table. New Zealand may prove a bigger challenge than Zimbabwe’s 154-run target.
That is where having four fast bowlers steaming in with authority and clear plans may tilt games SA’s way.
