And of course my first two priority picks in Faulkner and Roro are gone.
Oh well, I cannot afford to miss out on
Lungi Ngidi. Has only played five tests till now due to fitness concerns and at first glance, two of those away tests may seem very unimpressive and point towards a home bully. Inspect closer however and you will witness that one of those games was on a pitch so devoid of life for pacers that Sri Lanka opted to play only one who was also the captain and he also bowled a grand total of 2 overs in the entire game. A highly impressive fact will be that only two pacers picked wickets in the game with one of them being Ngidi as he dismissed Karunaratne who was the highest scorer in the second innings, never an easy wicket to take. The other game was versus India who batted first and piled on the pressure with a massive score but if performing poorly in a solitary test in India is a criteria to judge a player, Ngidi will very well find himself in top tier company.
A more accurate indicator of his talent comes in the solitary test versus Australia in the infamous 'Sandpaper' series where amidst the plaudits for AB de Villiers freakish century and Rabada's eleven wicket haul, his own contribution of five wickets (one of which was the first innings' highest run scorer for the Aussies in Warner) went under the radar. A Rabada clone (at least 85%ish at the moment
) is the best way to describe him given his ability to bowl quick deliveries and sharp bouncers. His key strength lies in his height which allows him to bowl that awkward back of a length delivery that is extremely difficult to put away, making him a very useful player even when he is not among the wickets. To illustrate how similar he is to Rabada, one only needs to take a glance at their respective first-class records.
If he is fit, there is no doubt that he will continue enriching a long line of excellent bowlers in South African history and has the potential to be one of the best the country has seen.
Hashim Amla
Clive Rice
Lungi Ngidi
@Parth D to continue.