http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Makhaya-Ntini-c73953, the famous South African bowler has retired from International cricket. This has been one eventful career from this talented South African bowler. For him it had always been a dream to play for South Africa. He will
easily be remembered as one of the all time great South African bowlers.
He will continue to play domestically for South Africa. He announced his decision to retire in a press conference held in Johannesburg on Tuesday. He was the first black African cricketer to play for South Africa. He remains South
Africa’s second highest wicket taker of all time in Test cricket.
Makhaya started bowling at the age of seven. Ntini came into the South African side in 1998. His lethal fast bowling was noticed by all. Ntini was included in the South African squad when South Africa toured Australia back in 1998.
He made his ODI debut against New Zealand when he took two wickets off his 10 overs. He made history when he became the first black cricketer to play Test cricket, when he played a match against Sri Lanka in Cape Town. Ntini’s basic attribute was his ability
to bowl fast and put the opening batsmen in trouble from the start. At the start of his career he was very expressive and took early wickets. His ability to take wickets at the start was noticed and it further cemented his place in the South African squad
though at times his career he was criticized for a lack of control in his bowling this considerably improved later.
When South Africa toured England in 1998, Ntini was included in the sqaud. Ntini was not included in the first two matches of the series but was included in the 5th Test. In the 5th Test match at Leeds he
picked 4 wickets in the first innings and restricted England scoring a big total. Though South Africa lost the series, Ntini’s ability to pick wickets was spotted. He was full of energy and had all the ingredients to be a genuine fast bowler. He bowled wide
of the wicket and had the ability to take the ball away from the batsman.
Ntini’s again made a return to the South African side in 2000 when South Africa toured http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758, Ntini was included in the first Test, taking 1 wicket for 73 runs. It was a match South Africa lost by the margin of an innings.
Ntini again made a return to the squad when he was chosen for the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754 series in November 2000. For Ntini, who had been around for 3 years or so it was an opportunity for him to remind the selectors of his wicket taking abilities and why they were wrong
in not selecting him in the first place. It was the first test match in which he bowled one exceptional spell. In the second innings he took his first 6 wicket haul by managing figures of 6/66. He was declared Man of the Match along with Jacque Kallis. He
then managed to take a number of wickets with a decent economy rate for the rest of the series.
Afterward Ntini was included in the South African team in almost every second series. He was bowling with a lot of passion and fire. His ability to pressurize batsman was appreciated and was used a lot by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 for opening
bowling spells. Not only was he effective as an opening bowler but he was also effective in taking a lot of wickets in matches. He was starting to emerge as a strong member in the South African bowling lineup.
For Ntini every match was another opportunity to learn from experienced cricketers and by playing quality sides. Ntini was effective and had this ability to take wickets at important time for his side. Though he was taking wickets
in every second match, his peak form had not yet come.
He was a combination fast and wicket taking bowler and this attribute was exploited by his Captains throughout different series. Ntini became the first South African to take a 10 wicket haul in a Test match at Lords. He took 5
wickets in both the innings and along with Graeme Smith was named Man of the Match. It was an effective series for Ntini and he took 24 wickets in the series.
For Ntini every other series was another opportunity for him to take wickets. From 2001 to 2007 he was considered for almost every series in which South Africa played and his form and bowling competency was improved with every
match. His best bowling performance was against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 in 2005 when he managed figures of 13 wickets for 132 runs. He took 6 for 95 in the first innings and even better figures of 7 for 37 in the second innings. It was a demonstration of devastating bowling.
Ntini had developed this ability of taking 5 wicket hauls in different series and justifying everybody’s expectations of him being very effective as an opening bowler. He used to pick 3 wicket and 4 wicket hauls in almost every second Test matche and it really
helped him to increase his tally of wickets.
Though, Ntini hasn’t played many One-Day matches, he was effective in them too and managed to take many wickets. He has the best figures in one day matches for South Africa when he took 6 wickets for 22 runs against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746.
Ntini has always remained a popular figure in the South African camp and was named their favorite sportsman in a research poll conducted by the South African Press Association.
Ntini has always remained South Africa’s premier fast bowler and one of the leading fast bowlers in the world. In January 2007 he took his 300th Test wicket, becoming the first Black African player to achieve this feat. He has
also had the honor of playing 100 Test matches for his side. After losing his place from the One day squad, Ntini was also dropped from the Test squad after not performing well against England in 2009/10. He managed 390 Test wickets from 101 Test matches with
an average of 28.82. His feats will be remembered for a long time.
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