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PROTEAS READY TO UNLEASH KWENA MAPHAKA IN NEW YEAR TEST
Paarl Royals teen sensation Kwena Maphaka is set to become the South Africa’s youngest ever Test cricketer when he makes his debut in the second Test against Pakistan at Newlands today.
Maphaka will be 18 years and 270 days old when he lines up for the anthems in the New Year Test, breaking a 30-year-old record set by Paul Adams back in 1995. Adams was 18 years and 340 days old.
It is likely that Maphaka will share the new ball with his hero and fellow St Stithians alumnus MI Cape Town’s Kagiso Rabada.
"I'm sure he'll be looking forward to running in with KG over the next five days," Test captain Temba Bavuma said. "We're super excited for the young talent."
With Maphaka preferred over veteran seamer Dane Paterson, who has claimed 13 wickets in his last two Tests, due to the extra pace he can generate, Bavuma is looking to unleash the young tearaway without any restrictions.
"With a guy like Kwena, you want to allow him to be as free as he can. You want to allow him to continue being the Kwena he is and to allow the exuberance of youth to come out," Bavuma said.
Proteas Test captain, Temba Bavuma is excited for Kwena Maphaka to "spread his wings" when he makes his red-ball debut for the national team against Pakistan at Newlands.
"More specifically with him, it's a case of Kwena running and bowling as quickly as you can, allowing him to kind of just spread his wings. Obviously with him, he doesn't have the foundation. A lot of us played first-class cricket, we were able to fail, come back and find a way. He's just going to have to learn quite quickly but he has the talent that will make it a little bit easier for him. Also, he's not on trial in this game. We know what his talent is about."
Although the Proteas have already qualified for the World Test Championship Final at Lord’s later this year, they are still seeking to close out a 2-0 series win here at the foot of Table Mountain.
Bavuma believes this extra bit of intensity will provide a fair test for young Maphaka.
“We want to give an opportunity to a young guy, when there's a consequence to it. Whatever happens from his point of view, from a performance point of view, it'll put him in good stead," Bavuma said.
TEAMS FOR NEWLANDS
Proteas: Ryan Rickelton (MI Cape Town), Aiden Markram (Sunrisers Eastern Cape), Wiaan Mulder (Durban’s Super Giants), Tristan Stubbs (Sunrisers Eastern Cape), Temba Bavuma (captain), David Bedingham (Sunrisers Eastern Cape), Kyle Verryenne (Pretoria Capitals), Marco Jansen (Sunrisers Eastern Cape), Kagiso Rabada ‘(MI Cape Town), Keshav Maharaj (Durban’s Super Giants), Kwena Maphaka (Paarl Royals).
Pakistan squad: Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Aamir Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam, Haseebullah (wk), Kamran Ghulam, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Naseem Shah, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub and Salman Ali Agha.
