SOUTH AFRICA TOUR OF AUSTRALIA, 2025
At just 19, Kwena Maphaka’s pace, poise and presence lit up Darwin ©Getty
Kwena Maphaka conceded almost as many runs in Darwin on Sunday as the number of years he’s been alive. The 19-year-old’s 4 for 20 couldn’t haul South Africa to victory in the first T20I against Australia, but it did make sure he was noticed.
Maphaka is now the youngest quick from an ICC full member to take four wickets in a men’s T20I. He also owns the best men’s T20I figures by any teenage bowler against Australia.
Meh.
These are the kinds of records that give cricket a bad name. That make it a refuge for numbers nerds, a game sucked dry of the juice of humanity by its sadder adherents. They disregard drama and miss magic in their sorry search for statistical significance that exists only between their ears. Records should be banned. Most of them, anyway.
As Maphaka lopes towards the wicket, a gold chain that looks bigger than the left-arm fast bowler himself dances diabolically around his neck. His action is lithe and lusty, and he unleashes at a pace that makes batting an awkward affair.
But what shines brightest about him is his confidence; the brightness of his face, the visceral vitality of his presence. Has he always had this, or has it grown with him as a fast bowler?
“I’ve always been pretty confident,” Maphaka told a press conference on Monday. “I have a lot of belief in my skill and I back my skill. I’ve always been a real competitor. I never like losing. I always want to come out on top. It’s something that’s been instilled in me since I was really young.”
But that doesn’t mean his belief is unshakeable. Maphaka looked listless and lacking in the 22 overs he bowled in the first Test against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo in June, when he went wicketless for 80. There was more of that in the 10.5 overs he sent down in the T20I triseries that followed, in which he took three wickets at an economy rate of 8.49.
What made the difference on Sunday?
“The 1% is trying to keep the game as simple as possible, not trying to overcomplicate things or make it seem like it’s a game of 20,000 deliveries; just going to your best ball at a particular moment and backing your plans.
“I think belief is a massive part of performance, and I might have been a little bit short on belief in Zim. I think the most important part of that kind of stuff is accepting the fact that you’re going to have bad days and good days, and just sticking to your game plan and whatever you do best.
“I’m not going to be the best player in the world overnight, and I understand that. It’s all about growing as a player day by day, keeping focused on the grind and what I have to do to make myself better on a daily basis.”
On Sunday’s albeit scant evidence, Maphaka’s progress has leapt forward. He invariably has the pace to beat batters, but this time he also had the slower balls. The zip that deserted him in Zimbabwe was back, and with it his line and length. And his confidence.
Tim David tilted the balance towards Australia’s 17-run win with his 83 off 52. David hit more than more than three-quarters of his runs in fours and sixes to rescue an innings that teetered on the edge in the eighth over, when the Aussies were 75/6. David boomed and bashed and lasted into the 19th and had everything to do with his team reaching 178.
But he couldn’t do much with Maphaka. David scored 14 runs off the 11 deliveries he faced from the teen tearaway, a strike rate of 127.27. Against the rest of South Africa’s attack he struck at 168.30. That’s 41.03 degrees of difference.
The flat six over midwicket and the four through the covers that David hit in the space of three balls in the ninth were the only boundaries Maphaka conceded.
When David tried to argue that a Maphaka delivery should be wided for height, the South African didn’t hesitate to get in the face of a man more than 10 years his senior.
“I told him to let the umpires deal with umpiring, and that he must focus on his batting,” Maphaka said.
David was the beneficiary of two of the four catches South Africa dropped. One of those chances was spilled by Dewald Brevis, who overran the ball as he sprinted from backward square leg.
The bowler was Maphaka, who picked himself up bullishly enough to offer David a delivery pitched in the slot.
The Aussie lurched at the opportunity and made solid contact … and was caught by Tristan Stubbs, who had dropped him off Senuran Muthusamy in the 16th, charging from long-on. That’s what confidence makes people like Maphaka do – get back on the horse and try again.
And make drama and magic in the process. But some of us will demand stats regardless. Here you go: in the course of his presser of not quite 11 minutes, Maphaka said “Thanks for the question” to the relevant reporter seven times. He was asked a dozen questions.
What happened the other five times? Those were all follow-up questions. Maphaka offered his thanks only the first time he addressed each reporter. It takes a nimble mind to know who’s who in a Zoom room when you can’t see the faces of the people talking at you, and to react accordingly.
Can bowl. Can think. Could grow into someone like “the best player in the world”.
© Cricbuzz
