Rabada can do no wrong
Everywhere Kagiso Rabada goes the sun seems to shine down on South Africa’s pace bowling sensation.
|||Everywhere Kagiso Rabada goes the sun seems to shine down on South Africa’s pace bowling sensation.
The 21-year-old Proteas fast bowler is currently in England enjoying a short stint at the Kent Spitfires where he made an impressive Natwest T20 Blast debut against the Sussex Sharks on Thursday.
After a bitterly cold and wet start to the English summer, Rabada’s debut was played out on a glorious Canterbury sunlit day - so much so that the match had to be stopped twice for “bad light” due to the glare of the setting sun.
Rabada, fresh off a plane from the Caribbean where he was part of the Proteas disappointing exit from a Tri-Series involving hosts West Indies and Australia, certainly enjoyed the conditions as he delivered a Man of the Match performance. His debut haul of 2/31 from four overs propelled Kent to 10-run victory.
Rabada’s wickets included, what is now quickly becoming a trademark delivery, a 90mph (144.5km/h) yorker that uprooted Sussex opener Chris Nash’s off stump. It was a carbon-copy of the delivery which castled West Indies star batsman Marlon Samuels last week in the Tri-Series in Barbados. Rabada later also dismissed former England T20 international Luke Wright, who was brilliantly caught on the third man boundary.
“It was a great start for my debut and I'm just happy that I could contribute and that the team has won. It's a good start for me and hopefully we can get some momentum from this,” Rabada told the Kent CC website.
"It was quite a good wicket but most of the guys felt we fell a bit short runs wise, so credit to all the bowlers because we made it tough for them to score and got wickets at crucial times."
After his opening burst Rabada returned to close out the game for Kent, when Spitfires captain Sam Northeast handed the youngster the responsibility of bowling the last over with the Sharks requiring 23 runs to win. Rabada conceded just 12 runs, with only his second last ball of his spell being hit for a six to spoil his impressive figures a little bit.
Although the Johannesburg born-and-bred star has admitted to “missing South Africa and it's diverse cultures” on social media after a long spell on the road, he has warmed up to the Kent locals by saying Canterbury “almost feels like I’m coming home” due to previous Proteas Justin Kemp, Ryan McLaren, Martin van Jaarsveld, Vernon Philander, Wayne Parnell, Morne Morkel and Makhaya Ntini all playing for Kent in recent years.
Rabada’s Kent’s teammates are certainly enjoying his presence in the changeroom with England T20 international Sam Billings tweeting after yesterday’s game.
“Great @kentcricket team performance tonight! Cracking daybuuuw @KagisoRabada25 - onto Chelmsford tomo #SuperKent”
Although Proteas coach Russell Domingo publically expressed his concern about his players workloads outside of international competition earlier this week, the eight-match spell that Rabada is currently experiencing can only be of benefit to South Africa in the long term.
It is the first time the youngster will be exposed to the extra swing and variables of the Duke ball in comparison to the Kookaburra used in South Africa and the rest of the world.
The Proteas next major tournament assignment is the ICC Champions Trophy in the United Kingdom next year. - Independent Media