Makhaya Ntini

A record-breaking pace spearhead, Makhaya Ntini is a former South African cricketer and the first black person from the country to play international cricket. With a front-on, open-chested bowling action delivered from wide of the crease after drifting to his left at the very last second, Ntini never ceased to attack the batsman in front of him.

Ntini went to prestigious Dale College, well known for its deep-rooted cricket culture and two years later, he was on a plane travelling to England with the South Africa U-19 team. And by 1998, he was the Proteas’ first black cricketer and scalped the wickets of New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming and Adam Parore in his ODI debut on January 16th, 1998. 

The promising start was short-lived as he was accused and convicted of raping a 21-year-old girl at a cricket ground in late 1999. A triangular series also featuring India and Pakistan marked his return to cricket in March 2000. He took 3/36 in his first match as the Proteas thrashed India by 10 wickets and looked a much better bowler.

Five years later, playing in the Caribbean, Ntini recorded the best-ever figures by a South African bowler in a Test match taking a match haul of 13 for 132 at the Queen’s Park Oval. he also became only the third South African, after Allan Donald and Shaun Pollock, to take 200 wickets in ODIs. 

Before Ntini retired from Test cricket in 2009, he had risen to number two in the ICC Test Rankings for Bowlers and had a hat-trick to his name in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Ntini made his final appearance in a T20I against India in 2011. 

(As of April 2021)