Ntini best bowler for the year 2003

South Africa’s fast bowler Makhaya Ntini has emerged as the world’s leading bowler for the 2003 calendar year. He beat Australia’s leg spinner Stuart McGill, who was first to reach 50 wickets, to the top spot and heads the list of ten players who claimed 30 or more wickets during the year. Sharing the new ball with former captain Shaun Pollock, the arm speedster fired out West Indies team with his second five-wicket haul in the two Test matches against South Africa during the current four-match series. The homesters won both matches emphatically and the athletic Ntini will be fired up to lead his country to another whitewash of Brian Lara’s men. The West Indian batsmen have to show greater fighting spirit and determination as well as patience and technical proficiency to stop the humiliation.

The energetic quickie blasted out five West Indian batsmen for 66 runs in first innings (264 runs) at the Kingsmead Ground, Durban, and then returned to grab three more in the second innings which sparked the South Africans to a commanding victory by an innings and 65 runs. They retained the Sir Viv Richards Trophy first won in the Caribbean in 2001 with a 2-1 win over Carl Hooper’s side. The five for 66 in the just-concluded Second Test was his fourth five-wicket haul for the year and sixth of his career. It also bettered his five for 75 against England in the Second Test at Lord’s where he bowled South Africa to a famous victory over the Englishmen. The tireless quickie, has taken over from the now retired Allan Donald as his nation’s opening bowler, responded to the challenge and responsibility and provided the inspiration when his team needed him. Ntini has now firmly established himself as one of the world’s most dependable and hostile bowler and has also developed into one of the game’s most engaging characters.

He bagged nine wickets in the First Test against West Indies and led the South Africans to an impressive 189-run victory at Johannesburg where he was awarded the “Man of the Match” award. It was the case at Lord’s also where he demolished the Englishmen and got his first ten-wicket match haul and inspired South Africa to a comprehensive victory by an Innings and 82 runs at the game’s headquarters. In the two completed Tests against West Indies, he took his overall tally to 17 wickets and became the third South African player to claim 50 Test wickets in a year. The 26-year-old followed in the footsteps of Allan Donald who achieved the feat in 1998 when he captured 80 wickets (19.64) and Pollock who accomplished the feat twice in his career. Pollock was second to Donald in 1998 with 69 wickets (20.45) and repeated in 2001 with 55 (21.38). Ntini also became the 58th bowler to finish the year with 50 or more wickets and is now ranked 23rd in the all-time list. Despite not being as hostile as his new new-ball partner, Pollock was not been totally overshadowed but provided ample ammunition with control aggression for their 22-year-old captain Graeme Smith as they maintained the second position behind the mighty Aussies in both Tests and One-Day Internationals.
 
It was Pollock who engineered the last day collapse of the West Indies team with the prized wickets of first innings double centurion Brian Lara (5) and his vice-captain Ramnaresh Sarwan at Johannesburg where he picked up two wickets for 59 and took his annual tally to 44. The right-arm quickie finished the 2003 tally with 45 (20.98) bettered only by Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharran with 48 wickets (17.69), McGill and Ntini. McGill picked up six wickets (four plus two) against India and helped his team to level the series with a comprehensive nine-wicket victory in the decisive Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket ground. The right-arm leg spinner, who started the final Test of the year, one ahead of Ntini finished on 57 overall and had to settle for the second spot. He was the 57th bowler and 12th Australia to claim 50 or more wickets in a calendar year. His famous compatriot Dennis “The Menace” Lillee heads the all-time list with the world record haul of 85 (20.95), which he accomplished in 1981.

Australia’s Jason Gillespie (41 wickets, 22.51), Brett Lee (38 wkts, 35.03) and Andy Bichel (32 wkts, 33.25), Pakistan’s Shabbir Ahmed (33 wkts, 21.79) and Shoaib Akhtar (30 wkts, 12.37) as well Bangladesh’s Mohammad Rafique (33 wkts, 24.00) were the other bowlers who captured 30 or more wickets during the 2003 calendar year. Shane Warne (67 wickets in 2002), Harbhajan Singh (63), Saqlain Mushtaq (51), Zaheer Khan (51), Anil Kumble (49), Glen McGrath (49), Mervyn Dillon (46), Matthew Hoggard (46), Andrew Caddick (43), Waqar Younis (40), Pedro Collins (37), Cameron Cuffy (32) and Jacques Kallis (31) did not make the list of the those with 30 or more after being successful the previous year. Warne was banned from international for one year because he tested positive for a prohibitive drug before the World Cup in South Africa while India played only five Tests and “Turbanator” Singh and Khan were injured for some of the matches and the selectors ignored Kumble for a few as well. 

Pakistan’s new selection panel, headed by former Test opener Aamir Sohail, ignored Waqar Younis and Saqlain after the World Cup, the same fate for West Indians Pedro Collins and Cuffy. Englishman Hoggard was injured while Caddick retired from international cricket. Kallis missed a couple of matches for South Africa due to injuries and the death of his father while Dillon did not play as many matches last year. The West Indian finished with 17 wickets bettered by the favoured injury-proned Corey Collymore who ended the year with 26— the most by a West Indian. It is good to note that Pakistan’s newcomer Shabbir Ahmed (33 wkts, 21.79) and Bangladesh’s Mohammad Rafique (33 wkts, 24.00) got among the top ten for the year.