Standing out amidst an all-timer of a performance from Kagiso Rabada on day one, ably supported by Marco Jansen, Lungi Ngidi struck a faltering note.
Playing his first Test in 10 months, he was wayward, with his speeds well below the two premier quicks, and he struggled to find a consistent line and length to keep up the pressure Rabada and Jansen piled on in bucket loads. Given only eight overs in the first innings – just two more than Keshav Maharaj in an innings that lasted 56 overs – his economy rate was a sight for sore eyes at 5.62.
After Pat Cummins blitzed through South Africa’s middle order before Tea today, securing Australia a 74-run lead, Ngidi finding a way to hold up his corner of the attack in the second innings was crucial for limiting that lead to any kind of chasable total. Facing the highest stakes of his career, he delivered.
Perhaps it was unease from Ngidi’s spell in the first innings that made Temba Bavuma bring Wiaan Mulder into the attack as first change. Or maybe wanting Ngidi’s legs completely fresh after Tea to give him a clean crack with two batters fresh off a break. Nevertheless, thrown the ball to replace Rabada as Jansen’s partner, he looked transformed. His speeds were up, legs pumping, and the boundary freebies he’d given Steve Smith the day before nowhere in sight. In the fourth over of his spell, he made the most important contribution in the innings, trapping Smith lbw – only the second time in his last seven innings at Lord’s he’s been dismissed before reaching a half-century. By the time Ngidi was replaced by Rabada eight overs later, he had two more wickets and had bowled his longest uninterrupted spell in a Test match for three and a half years.
All set for a gripping day three at Lord's 👀
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Ngidi’s selection for the final was a risk. Having suffered a groin injury earlier this year, he only played two games for RCB in the IPL, going into the match with just three professional matches under his belt in the last four months. His red-ball outings have been even fewer, with no first-class games apart from two Tests since December 2022. Nevertheless, his natural attributes on the Lord’s slope were preferred to Dane Paterson’s consistency, and Corbin Bosch’s all-out pace.
“We’ve seen what Patto [Paterson] did for us at the end of last season,” said Temba Bavuma ahead of the match. “But from a tactical point of view, there’s a little bit more pace from Lungi. He’s taller as well… Lungi has the experience. He’s played here before – not that Patto hasn’t, but Lungi compliments the bowling attack a little bit more.”
Mulder’s move up to three also played a significant role in Ngidi’s selection. With a frontline bowler operating a pace notch below Rabada and Jansen, with a skillset similar to that of Paterson, having him in the top order allowed room for Ngidi to come in. Nevertheless, pushing him over Paterson’s consistency was putting faith in a relative unknown.
Ngidi’s Test career has been blighted by injuries and characterised by a struggle to hold a consistent role among South Africa’s rotating battery of fearsome quicks. He burst onto the Test scene with a six-wicket haul on debut in 2018 in a side which included both Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander. With Dale Steyn also still yet to retire at the time, and Rabada only 25 Tests into his career, Ngidi elevated the succession plan from South Africa’s ageing all-conquering attack.
However, after taking 15 wickets at under 20 across his first four Tests in 2018, Ngidi played only twice in whites for South Africa over the next two and a half years. A series of injuries meant he missed most of South Africa’s tour of India in 2019, before a hamstring tear ruled him out of a marquee four Test series against England at the end of that year. Amidst those struggles and the stop-start pandemic calendar over the following two years, Anrich Nortje emerged as another bolter in South Africa’s stable, with Jansen added to that pack not long after.
Nevertheless, an excellent 2021 where only Hasan Ali among seamers took more Test wickets at a lower average saw Ngidi ensconced as a central part of South Africa’s XI once again. The vision for that pace attack was seen at Lord’s in 2022 when the Proteas blew England away twice. Ngidi played a pivotal if understated role in maintaining the pressure while Rabada and Nortje cleaned up. However, under the pump during second Test from the tailend of Bazball’s golden first summer, he was dropped in favour of the strength Mulder could add to a struggling batting unit at The Oval.
An underwhelming couple of Test matches in Australia, and the conflict between SA20 and Test schedule has left Ngidi where he is now, as a peripheral in South Africa’s attack rather than the central character he was billed as at the start of his career. The injuries he’s suffered have contributed to a decline in the pace he bowled with at the start of his career, and with the likes of Rabada, Jansen, Bosch and Nortje operating at a pace level above him, as well as the need for an all-rounder in Mulder, Ngidi is consistently competing for that third or fourth pacer spot.
Given all that, Ngidi’s spell on day two could be the most important of his career to date. Set to turn 30 next year, with only 20 Tests under his belt seven years after his debut, and with an ever expanding pace attack – Kwena Maphaka, Gerald Coetzee and Nandre Burger all injured or having missed out on the WTC final squad – his outing on day one could have had serious consequences beyond the trophy. Twenty-four hours later, and Ngidi has given a timely reminder of those skills he was backed over the rest for.
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