Lungi Ngidi’s frustration at his lack of playing time, and the resultant poor form, could become a catalyst for him and by extension the Proteas when they tackle Australia in their second Champions Trophy match on Tuesday.
The 28-year-old seamer expressed annoyance about how six-weeks on the sidelines — initially to nurse a groin injury and then to complete a strength and conditioning programme — had hampered his summer, costing him match time in the SA20 and nearly his spot in the Proteas Champions Trophy squad.
Ngidi, who needs one more to claim 100 ODI wickets, produced arguably his best performance of the season in South Africa’s victory over Afghanistan on Friday. His figures of 2/56 from eight overs weren’t earth-shattering but, given what occurred previously in the summer, it was a sign of significant progress.
“I can understand his frustration,” said Cricket South Africa’s (CSA) chief medical officer, Dr Hashendra Ramjee, who after consulting with Ngidi opted to put him on a six-week strength and conditioning programme in November.
“The programme (for him) wasn’t defined upfront, as we did with Marco Jansen and Gerald Coetzee, before they went on a 12-week programme. It’s a big lesson for us, along with how we manage building up the loads of bowlers across the different formats.”
Ngidi didn’t play any Tests this summer and missed the T20s and ODIs against Pakistan because of the conditioning programme. “It was very annoying. If you’d asked me now, would I take another six-week break, I’d say ‘no’ because the journey back has been one of the hardest ones in my career,” Ngidi said.
His frustration built during the SA20, where he played just five matches for the Paarl Royals, making little impression in any of them. In the triangular series South Africa played before the Champions Trophy, Ngidi continued to look lethargic.
It was only in the Afghan fixture that he started to show evidence of his best form. “Six weeks felt very long… right now I’m just building from game to game,” he said.
Temba Bavuma explained how Ngidi was a confident player who needs clarity and has to feel like he is being supported and — heading into Tuesday’s clash with the current ODI world champions — the uptick in form will be a boost to the squad.
South Africa appears to have an advantage over Australia, who are missing all their frontline seam bowlers including skipper Pat Cummins because of injury. The trio of quicks that started yesterday’s match against England have a combined 17 ODI caps, and have taken 19 wickets between them.
Steve Smith, who is captaining the Australians in Cummins’ absence, had to get creative using all of the side’s resources to get through the 50 overs, with part-timers Matthew Short and Marnus Labuschagne turning their arms over.
The Australians bat deep, with the exhilarating Glenn Maxwell coming in at No 7 yesterday, meaning Ngidi and South Africa’s bowlers will be under the microscope, more so than was the case against Afghanistan.
Before Maxwell, there’s Travis Head, who will be in Ngidi’s sights with the new ball. In Head’s last five innings against the Proteas he has scored 214 runs, with two half centuries — one of those in the World Cup semifinals in Kolkata, at a strike rate of 145.6.
Tomorrow’s match between Bangladesh and New Zealand will be the first ODI in Rawalpindi in two years, and the Proteas will be studying that match closely for clues, before meeting the Australians there the next day in what is always a fierce contest.
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