BBC SPORT | Cricket | Ntini close to perfection



By Marcus Prior South African sports journalist

It is a measure of Makhaya Ntini's progress in the past two years that he is South Africa's leading Test wicket-taker in 2002.

Before the second Test against Sri Lanka at Centurion, the fast bowler had claimed 31 victims in this calendar year.

It has been a long journey from the mud and straw huts of Mdingi in the Eastern Cape to national team regular, and there has been controversy and mishap along the way.

But a South African team without Ntini is now almost unthinkable.

"You can see the way Polly (captain Shaun Pollock) uses him now how important he is for us," says assistant coach and bowling specialist Corrie van Zyl.

Makhaya Ntini
Ntini's action has need fine tuning
"When he wants to strike, when he wants to ruffle up the batters, he calls on Makhaya. That's nice for Makhaya to be recognized by the captain and the team as our strike bowler."

Van Zyl has worked with Ntini for several years, and remembers a far less refined product.

"At the beginning Makhaya just enjoyed bowling. He's very fit and would run in the whole day.

"He's always been someone with raw pace, but he has an action I could only call 'difficult'. If something goes wrong with it, it sometimes takes a while to correct.

For Makhaya the last few years have been an educational process. He's had to get to know his action."

Early days

Close observers of Ntini have noticed the way he leaps slightly sideways, away from the stumps, in his delivery stride. There is a reason for the unorthodox action.

A young Ntini was given a pair of spiked cricket boots, but the cricket pitch in his village had slabs of concrete at both ends, so he had to jump sideways to avoid slipping on his spikes.

Makhaya is starting to become a confident man and that has been true of his bowling too

South Africa assistant coach Corrie van Zyl

These days Ntini bowls for his country on the most immaculate of turf wickets, and his growing all-round maturity has allowed van Zyl to work more with his action.

"Makhaya is starting to become a confident man and that has been true of his bowling too," said van Zyl.

"It has given us a chance to start working on some of the finer details like getting in closer to the stumps.

Refinements

"We also want him more upright at the stumps so that he can get away movement to the right hander.

"People have talked about his lack of a slower ball for a while. He has about five or six of them but has never had the confidence to actually bowl them.

"It comes out beautifully when he bowls it in the nets but he now needs the confidence to bowl it out in the middle.

"He understands the need for him to have that in his armoury, especially when he's bowling on flat wickets."

So beware the first Test batsman to receive the Ntini slower ball - it will certainly be hard to pick.


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