Lee lights up WBBL again with second consecutive century

Kwena Maphaka takes first steps on a long road

It was unlike anything Kwena Maphaka had ever experienced. Since it was only his fourth first-class match, it is hardly unexpected that his Test debut against Pakistan was the longest he had ever played on the field.

The number of overs his team spent on the field during both innings was only higher than the 122.1 Pakistan faced after following on once in his first three games. Pakistan's first innings, which lasted 54.2 overs, was longer than four of the six first-class innings.

At the age of 18, 270 days, Maphaka made his debut as South Africa's youngest men's Test player. Many people his age find it difficult to focus on anything longer than a Tik-Tok post. How did you feel about having to focus for hours on end in front of thousands of people?

After South Africa defeated him by 10 wickets on Monday, Maphaka told reporters, "It was hard to keep concentrated in the beginning because it is a completely different setting from what I am used to." However, as soon as you begin playing the game—face, bowl, and field your first balls—it sort of locks in that you are here, you are participating, and you are here for a reason. Therefore, I was not concentrating on being concentrated too much. It sort of just occurred.

Maphaka has only participated in 25 senior-level games, including two ODIs and five T20Is. Across all formats, Babar Azam has earned 308 caps for Pakistan. There was only one thing to do on Sunday, an hour into the third day of play, when Babar chased a leg-side delivery and was caught behind.

According to Maphaka, "something like that happens for a reason, even though that ball did not travel where it was supposed to." "All I could think of was, 'I have taken my first Test wicket!'" "Let me parade and run around!"

Khurram Shahzad, who finished with 2/43 in 8.3 overs, was also caught at backward point by Maphaka to end Pakistan's first innings. Even while it was not much bowling, it was sufficient to prepare him for a better second act.

Maphaka remarked, "I was simply concentrating on hitting a spot and trying to be as consistent as possible because all the nerves were gone." Instead of attempting too many things at once, it was about maintaining composure and concentrating as much as possible on bowling the same ball—or balls that were similar—consistently. According to what I have observed and heard, Test cricket is a straightforward game, therefore I am making an effort to keep it that way."

Before noon on Monday, Maphaka squared up Saud Shakeel and whacked him on the pads, giving him the impression that he had taken his third wicket in 11 deliveries. According to Kyle Verreynne, who indicated that the ball would have gone down leg, Nitin Menon rejected the request, and the South Africans refused to reconsider. However, the stumps would have been struck, according to Hawk-Eye's projection.

Maphaka remarked, "It is one of those things where you make the correct decision or you make the wrong one." "You need to focus on the game; it does not really matter. It is not helpful to sort of look back and say, "No, but this, but this, but this," even if we made the wrong choice. Saying we are going to get him out nevertheless is a better way to look ahead. Let us see how we manage to accomplish it.

It was under contentious circumstances that Maphaka had to wait an additional 49 deliveries to increase his number of wickets. When he hit Shan Masood on the pads, umpire Menon objected once more. Masood was not pleased with what he saw on the screen after the South Africans reviewed.

Masood, who batted for over six hours and scored 145 runs, said at a news conference on Monday, "I got beaten on the outside edge and it was displayed as an inswinger; I was bewildered by that." "I did not think the technology accurately depicted that ball's trajectory."

He took 1/16 in the fifth over in a tense and blustery seven-run period from Maphaka. In 21.2 overs, returns of 2/43 and 1/47 do not seem like much. Particularly if you are playing for a team that has plenty of bowling quality. In their debuts for South Africa, 25 players have taken five or more wickets in an innings, and two of them went on to score ten runs.

However, Maphaka shown enough to imply that the excitement sparked by his 21 wickets at 9.71 in six games during the 2017 under-19 World Cup in South Africa was about more than just hope or hype.

He had a genuine appearance and voice. But on Wednesday, when he finds out how he did on his high school final exams, he will be just another anxious adolescent.

Maphaka stated, "I will probably think about that tomorrow or the next day," "During the game, my teammates made a few remarks regarding my performance, but I ignored them and made an effort to give the cricket my whole attention."

After all, that is where his future is. He has significantly more time to spend on the field than he did at Newlands.