“Who is the youngest cricketer to represent South Africa?”
Now there’s a question that stumps most quiz teams. Jonty Rhodes? Paul Adams? Quinton de Kock? Maybe even Graeme Pollock?
These are the regular names thrown around. But none of them would be correct, with the right answer being former Free State paceman Victor Mpitsang, who debuted for the Proteas against West Indies at Bloemfontein in February 1999 (he was 18 years and 314 days).
The late Trevor Chesterfield, a long-time cricket writer of the Cape Times’ sister paper, the Pretoria News, once described Mpitsang back in 1999 as “only 19 but even at this age he bowled with all the skill, care and attention of a thinking fast bowler”.
South Africa’s latest black African fast-bowling hope Kagiso Rabada is cut from a similar cloth.
He is tall and gangly – an asset to any fast bowler, allowing him to extract bounce from a good length – just like Mpitsang. He has the ability to bowl really quickly – ask AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis after facing some fiery spells from the teenager in the Harare Sports Club nets – and possesses a solid action.
I also had the pleasure of having dinner recently with the young man in Harare one night, and he certainly has a great sense of maturity.
Rabada will be a few months older – he is currently 19 years and 129 days – than Mpitsang when he wears the Proteas green jumper for the first time during the Australian T20 series, but it will be no less intimidating, especially as it could come in the second match scheduled for the imposing coliseum called the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
And this is where I hope South African cricket has learnt its harsh lessons.
The Proteas dressingroom is a certainly a different beast now than it was during the last millennium, with already “gelling” with his teammates after being on the Zimbabwe trip as a non-playing reserve, but he will still need to be handled with care on and off the field.
JP Duminy, as captain, may be new to the job too, but he has knowingly or unknowingly been tasked with guiding South Africa’s big pace-bowling hope for the next decade.
Mpitsang played just one further ODI after that historic day in the City of Roses, and while injuries did hamper his progress across his 13-year long career, the quality of chances he received certainly did not help either.
For instance, Mpitsang was only utilised as the seventh change bowler in his final ODI, with all-rounder Jacques Kallis opening the bowling ahead of him, and this against minnows Kenya in a dead-rubber match in Nairobi. A rare talent like cannot be allowed to follow a similar path. He must be given a proper chance to prove himself, and if he fails, he must not just be discarded.
National convenor of selectors Andrew Hudson said yesterday in Durban that Rabada “has amazing ability and talent” and also “the feedback has been really positive, particularly from Russell Domingo, to say that he really feels Kagiso has got something special”. This makes it even more important that Rabada needs to know that he has the support of his teammates, captain and coach.
There will be disappointments along the way – he is only 19 after all and yet to play a full first-class season – but if managed correctly, Rabada has the potential to carry South Africa’s fast-bowling torch for a long time yet.
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