“I believe, and I think a lot of guys believe, that he’s probably the best death bowler or white-ball bowler in the country.” – George Linde on Sisanda Magala.
Telford Vice | Cape Town
THE 12th over of the first innings at the Wanderers on Monday didn’t seem ripe with significance as the bowler stood at the top of his run. Something like calm had settled on the scene after Pakistan’s rocky start. They had lost Mohammad Rizwan, their beautiful bruiser, to the first ball of the match and his partner, Sharjeel Khan, to the 17th; both to looping catches in the deep off George Linde, who also had Mohammad Hafeez caught behind.
But Babar Azam looked set to deliver another commanding innings, and with Haider Ali, Faheem Ashraf and Hasan Ali still in the equation, 72/3 had the room to grow into an imposing target in eight overs’ time. Waiting to deliver the first of those remaining overs, the 12th of the innings, was Sisanda Magala.
No-one took more wickets in either of the franchise white-ball competitions this season than Magala. In the T20s he claimed four more than Kagiso Rabada at a better average and despite bowling fewer overs. There was little surprise at that: Magala has been a force at domestic level, especially when the pressure is on, since he led the wicket-takers at the 2016 Africa T20 Cup.
His success had earned him inclusion in South Africa’s squad for their white-ball series against Australia and England last year, only for him to be denied a debut by his failure to meet the required fitness levels. Magala is a big fella in ways that don’t do him favours in an age that demands something close to physical perfection from players, fast bowlers in particular. How someone of Magala’s apparently unacceptable attributes has, from the start of the 2016 Africa T20 Cup, managed to send down 7,702 balls in senior representative matches — and take 221 wickets — is thus a mystery beyond the realm of science.
None of which was likely on Magala’s mind as he lingered on the cusp of the 12th over on Monday, his eyes wide with focus, his brow glistening with preparation, his body — the only one he has, the one that has made him the fine bowler he is — ready. What he was probably thinking about in the moment, and trying hard not to think about, was Sunday.
Also at the Wanderers, his first delivery in a South Africa shirt was short and limping down leg. Babar didn’t quite sneer as he dispatched the ball to the fine leg fence for four. Worse, Magala had overstepped. Rizwan cracked two fours and a six off the last half of that over. Magala was sent to the outfield for four overs. When he returned he immediately bowled a wide, the first of two in an over that cost only five runs. He came back when Pakistan needed 22 off 12, and promptly conceded two boundaries to Faheem Ashraf. But the damage was limited to 11.
Nobody in sport gets everything right all the time. Those who survive and prosper find ways to get more right than wrong. But there is no foolproof way to keep the good while discarding the bad and the ugly. Magala would have known this long before Monday, when Babar was again the first player to face him. And, again, he shot himself in the foot with a no-ball. Followed by another, and another, a wide, a four over backward point, two runs through midwicket, another wide, a single down the ground, a dot ball — edged into the pads — a four fine on the off side, another wide, and another dot ball, this one dribbled into the covers to bring up a dozen deliveries to mark the 12th over. No South Africa bowler has had to send down as many deliveries to get through an over in a T20I. The best thing you could say about that was Magala broke a record held by Dale Steyn, who needed 11 balls to emerge from an over against West Indies during the 2010 World T20.
After each part of Magala’s personal cluster bomb exploded, he walked back to his mark muttering oaths and shaking his head at the unbelievability of it all. There weren’t many reasons to be relieved that no spectators were in attendance, but that was one of them. Had there been, and even though Magala plays for the Lions, the most bilious crowd in the country would have been booed him to shreds.
Two overs later Magala again ran in to Babar, who put him away for four behind square leg. Then came a chilling moment as the umpires checked whether that, too, was a no-ball … it wasn’t, and breathing resumed. Only two singles accrued in the rest of that over, which was without extras. But not without evidence that, finally, he was bowling, not drowning.
So Magala was kept on. Having conceded singles off the first four balls of his next over — perfectly respectable in the 18th over — he pitched the fifth on off-stump, aiming for the top third. Babar, who had reached 50 off the previous delivery, swung for the fences. And missed. The ball did what it was bowled to do, and as the tumbling bails lit up the afternoon sky Magala let loose a roar that was three-quarters relief and a quarter revelry.
Still another over, his fourth, the 20th, was afforded him. The result was five runs, one of them a leg bye, and a runout at his end, which he effected with suddenly slick confidence. From bleeding 18 runs in his first over to begrudging 14 in the other three, and taking the most prized wicket of the lot, it had been quite some journey for the big fella.
Asked about Magala’s fightback, Linde told an online press conference: “It showed his character. I believe, and I think a lot of guys believe, that he’s probably the best death bowler or white-ball bowler in the country. So we weren’t worried after that first over because we knew what was going to come next. He knew what he had to do and he corrected it.”
Linde deserved to be behind the microphones. He had taken the new ball, and with it 3/23. He also claimed three catches and, with Heinrich Klaasen, ushered South Africa to their win by clipping an unbeaten 20 off 10 balls. But Linde is the kind of player who wouldn’t know what to do with his own trumpet if you sent him to Miles Davis for lessons. So, instead of taking pride in his own performance, he lauded the rest of the attack: “I’m very happy for him [Magala], Lizaad [Williams], Beuran [Hendricks], Shami … ag, [Tabraiz] Shamsi, sorry; almost said ‘Shammo’ … I’m very happy for everyone that bowled.”
It was a far cry from what happened on Sunday, when South Africa conceded 60 in five overs to leave Pakistan the relatively simple task of scoring 11 off the last, which they did with a ball to spare. “We should have won the game,” Linde said. “We were just not good enough on the day, especially the last five overs. Today the bowlers showed up. We had a point to prove and we did that.”
And how. They did so well enough for South Africa to clinch victory in 14 overs and level the series with two games to play. The show will go on at Centurion on Wednesday and Friday. But the 12th over at the Wanderers on Monday will always be Magala’s triumph.
First published by Cricbuzz.
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