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NEWS Cricket World Cup 2007>Makhaya Ntini – From cow herder to cricket idol 02nd Feb 2007 22.18 IST By Manish Kumar From tending cattle in his home village of Mdingi in the Eastern Cape to becoming the first black player to play for the South African team, Makhaya Ntini has indeed come a long way. It was in Mdingi into which a development clinic arrived in 1993, when Ntini was a cattle herder.
A year later, Ntini was at Dale College, one of South Africa's leading cricket nurseries, and his skills were honed enough for him to represent his province in a national schoolboy tournament. His action was intentionally modelled on West Indian great Malcolm Marshall. In 1995, Ntini made the South Africa Schools team, and went on to play his club cricket while at East London Technical College. It soon became clear Ntini had what it takes to be a professional cricketer, and he made his One-Day International debut against New Zealand in Perth in January 1998, taking 2/31 in dismissing Stephen Paul Fleming and Adam Parore . Ntini played his first Test against Sri Lanka in Cape Town in March 1998, and took 2/74 in the match, including the wicket that won the match for South Africa. In 1999, however, Ntini was charged and initially convicted of rape. He steadfastly maintained his innocence and was subsequently acquitted on appeal. It was, though, a harrowing ordeal, and one, which nearly ended his career. Ntini’s start was slow, and with the stigma hanging over him, it was difficult for the cricket authorities to keep picking him. But once the dust settled they did, and the honors began mounting. Ntini was not chosen for South Africa again until 2000, and his return showed greater control than had been evident previously. Ntini became the first South African to take 10 wickets in a match at Lord's in 2003, and then he set the South African bowling record with 13/132 against the West Indies in Trinidad in 2005. Ntini was the world's best fast bowler in the 2005-06 season with 48 wickets, and has become the lynchpin of the Proteas' attack. For two years in a row, a Research Surveys poll has found the 29-year-old to be South Africa's most popular sportsman – ahead of even the soccer players of the adored Kaiser Chiefs and Orlando Pirates clubs from Soweto. And when he was on the verge of taking 300 wickets in Test cricket, Ntini didn't have to wait long to show the cricket world how he'd celebrate. Seven overs into the second day on Saturday of the second Test against Pakistan, Ntini had Mohammad Sami caught by Mark Verdon Boucher and the bowler took off on a victory gallop, pulling his white shirt over his head soccer-style. It revealed a T-shirt inscribed with ``Mdingi Express: 300 wickets.'' Sami gave Ntini his 300th Test wicket, making him the third South African after Allan Anthony Donald and Shaun Maclean Pollock to reach the milestone and the 21st all-time. Ntini said Boucher prompted him to wear the T-shirt bearing his hometown, and Pollock added the ‘300 wickets’. The wicket of Sami was Ntini’s fifth wicket of the innings – the 17th five-wicket haul of his career – and it sparked an affectionate standing ovation from the crowd at St. George's Park – just 100 miles (160 kilometers) from Mdingi – a small hamlet in the Eastern Cape where Ntini was a cattle herder. Also View In-Depth Coverage: Cricket World Cup 2007 Team Page: South Africa Team Page: Pakistan | LIVE CRICKET COVERAGE NEWS ~ Gilchrist has no plans to retire after World Cup ~ Ganguly's new batting approach may cost him sixer record ~ India 'squash the Orange' in World Cup warm-up game ~ Symonds gets a new hairdo for World Cup ~ Dhoni readies himself for stand-up act at World Cup (more in NEWS) FACE-TO-FACE ~ 500-mark a possibility in World Cup: Hayden ~ Minnows add charm to World Cup: Dravid (more in FACE-TO-FACE) COLUMNS ~ Will Sri Lanka replicate 1996 World Cup success? (more in COLUMNS) OFF-THE-FIELD ~ Ganguly again the darling of corporate world ~ Ganguly roped in as brand ambassador of Puma (more in OFF-THE-FIELD) PLAYERS Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble (more PLAYERS) TEAMS India, South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Australia, West Indies, Zimbabwe, England, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Kenya, Holland | 
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