One of South Africa’s greatest and most affectionately regarded sporting sons, Makhaya Ntini, is preparing for his last hurrah for his country on Sunday.
The stage couldn’t be a more impressive and dramatic one, at the iconic Moses Mabhida soccer stadium that hosted one of the World Cup semi-finals last year.
The match, the Standard Bank Pro20 international against India, will be attended by nearly 50,000 people, the largest crowd in African cricket history, after the house full signs were posted late on Thursday.
Ntini, 33, a sporting icon in his own right, is looking forward to the game, although he confessed he hadn’t been told whether he would be taking the new ball.
“Nobody’s said anything to me. Maybe I’ll be bowling with the old ball in the 19th over,” he laughed during a press conference at Kingsmead just before he met up with his teammates.
In the same vein he announced that he would be playing for “seven more years” for the Warriors, his franchise team, which would take his retirement age to 40.
Ntini’s last appearance for the Proteas will be a major event.
The former herdboy from Mdingi in the Eastern Cape rose from rural obscurity to become South Africa’s second most prolific Test wicket-taker (390) in a 101-match career that extended from January 1998 to December 2009.
During that time he became a hugely popular figure who represented the aspirations of all black sportsmen.
In a tribute to Ntini in the latest SA Cricket Annual, his most frequent fast bowling partner, Shaun Pollock, said: “Although his stats tell an amazing story of a world-class athlete, his legacy is of an individual who pioneered the way for a unified South African cricket team.”
Two of his most impressive stats were his 13/132 Test match haul against the West Indies in Trinidad in 2005 – the best match analysis for a South African – and becoming the only South African to take 10 wickets at Lord’s, in 2003.
But a jovial Ntini insisted yesterday that he didn’t want to be remembered “as a person who did ABCDE. I’d simply like to be remembered as Makhaya Ntini, who played for South Africa, and always cheered up the boys.”
He expressed gratitude to Cricket South Africa for giving him the opportunity to finish his international career in front of a huge home crowd and a worldwide TV audience.
“To be part of that will be a great and emotional experience for me,” he said.
Ntini said the moment he would always remember with the greatest fondness was the time he received his green and gold cap when he made his Test debut for South Africa against Sri Lanka at Newlands in 1998.
Ntini and Indian maestro Sachin Tendulkar will both receive awards for their services to cricket from South African President Jacob Zuma at the stadium.
* Graeme Smith has pulled out of Sunday’s match.
South Africa’s Test and ODI captain is nursing bruising to his hand after being hit by India fast bowler Sree Sreesanth on the fourth day of the final Test in Cape Town this week.
He will, however, be fit for the first ODI between the two teams at Kingsmead on Wednesday.
Smith’s place has been taken by the Knights’ opening batsman Morné van Wyk.
The punishing 31-year-old opener, who has six ODI and two T20 international caps to his name, has been in good form this season, striking an unbeaten 85 in 70 balls to lead his franchise to the MTN40 crown earlier this summer. - Weekend Argus