Six years ago Shane Gaffney cricket coach at Hilton College told Lungi Ngidi that he has what it takes to play for South Africa.
The coach’s confidence in the Grade 9-learner’s bowling abilities was just the incentive the youngster needed to start dreaming big. But Gaffney might be surprised how quickly Ngidi impacted on international cricket.
In his very first T20-game for the Proteas Ngidi took 2/12 against Sri Lanka at SuperSport Park and followed it up with another brilliant performance taking 4/19 at the Wanderers. His spirited bowling even led to him receiving the Man-of-the-Match award on his debut.
This might just be the start of bigger things to come. This evening at Newlands in the third and final T20-encounter Ngidi is eager to continue his “terror campaign” against Sri Lanka. The 20-year old fast bowler admits that he surprised himself with his impact on the series so far.
“As a bowler you don’t usually think about taking wickets your only focus is on making sure that you bowl a good line and length and that you hit the right areas in order to pressurize the batsman. Every time I run in to bowl I see it as a competition of skills between myself and the batsman. A competition I obviously want to win,” said Ngidi who will also represent South Africa in the One Day-series.
Ngidi who grew up in Kloof in KwaZulu-Natal said his love for cricket started when he watched Bakers Mini-Cricket on television.
“I just knew that this was the game I wanted to play. I always wanted to bowl. It did not seem fun standing with bat in hand waiting to hit a ball.”
In spite of playing two “tours” for South African Under-19 team Ngidi reckons that he only started fulfilling his true potential when he joined Assupol TuksCricket and later on started to play for the Northerns Amateur-side.
According to him it was Chris van Noordwyk who worked hours with him in the nets to help him improve his bowling action.
Dr. Helen Bayne (Head Biomechanist at the High Performance Centre, University of Pretoria) who studied fast bowling biomechanics at the University of Western Australia said it was important to make sure that Ngidi was properly managed after school.
"The period around the age of 18 and 19 years can be a very risky one for a promising fast bowler. Coming out of high school, having played provincial and national Under-19 cricket, teams are often keen to fast track them into senior cricket because of the impact that a good fast bowler can make. Unfortunately, the combination of their age and a sudden increase in their fast bowling demands greatly increases the risk of injury.
“One of the biggest injury concerns is a lower back stress fracture because it can keep a bowler out of competition for a full year, and the risk is highest in this age group because the part of the spine where the stress fracture happens only reaches full maturity around the age of 24. To decrease the chance of injury, bowling loads need to be increased gradually, with appropriate recovery periods.
“Young fast bowlers also need to be in good physical condition to handle the stresses associated with bowling, and have good technique to minimise the forces at the spine and other joints. When Lungi joined the programme in 2015, this was a major focus of the work we did with him. This involved a thorough assessment of his movement competency, strength and flexibility so that the strength and conditioning trainer could target areas of weakness, and analysis of his bowling action that the bowling coach based his technical work on. Lungi responded well and worked hard, making steady improvements in all areas."
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