Kwena Maphaka was still revising for school exams this time last year. On Saturday, the 19-year-old left-armer will stand at the top of his run-up in Bulawayo as South Africa’s senior quick, at least for one Test.
With Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen rested, Lungi Ngidi arriving only for the second match and Wiaan Mulder concentrating on batting at No. 3, coach Shukri Conrad has handed the new ball – and plenty of responsibility – to Maphaka.
“With Lungi not being here for the first Test, Kwena’s going to lead the bowling attack,” Conrad said. “As a 19-year-old, when you get given that responsibility, it doesn’t only speak volumes for how highly you are rated, but also the calibre and the mentality that he possesses. He’s a young buck that shows maturity way beyond his years.”
The two-match series forms no part of the World Test Championship. In truth, it sits in the calendar largely as a development stop-over between the title-winning 2023-25 cycle and the tougher trips to Pakistan and India later this winter. Conrad has therefore stacked his squad with new faces: five uncapped players travel, and three – Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Dewald Brevis and Codi Yusuf – are pencilled in for debuts.
Maphaka himself is hardly seasoned. He has just four first-class games behind him, one of those his Test debut against Pakistan at Newlands in January. He bowled briskly – mostly over 140kph – for figures of 3 for 90 across the match. There were raw moments, but also that awkward bounce which persuaded scouts at SA20 and the IPL to take an early punt on him.
“We’ve obviously got to be very smart in identifying when we put him out in the shop window and I think this would be a great time for him,” Conrad continued. “In Zimbabwe, in Test cricket specifically, he is not the third quick behind KG and Marco necessarily but he is the main dog. That responsibility will grow massively.”
The supporting cast in Bulawayo looks more workmanlike than star-studded: Mulder’s medium pace, Yusuf’s skiddy right-arm seam on debut, and Corbin Bosch, who owns a single Test cap but a decade of domestic overs. Keshav Maharaj provides spin, balance and the tactical brakes.
It is, then, a young attack flanked by experience in the dressing-room rather than in the middle. Conrad, aware of inflated expectations around prodigies, sounded a gentle warning.
“It’s all about being patient. Just like you need to be patient with batters, you need to be patient with bowlers as well,” he said. “We’re not going to see the best of Kwena in the next couple of months, but these are all the building blocks so that we can see the best of Kwena in say three or four years’ time.”
Domestically the left-armer has shown glimpses. For the Lions he claimed match figures of 6 for 78 against the Warriors last season, shaping the ball nicely back into right-handers. The ball is new, the body still growing, but the wrist action is already repeatable – coaches talk about that a lot when discussing his ceiling.
After the Tests, Maphaka is due to stay on for a T20 tri-series also involving Pakistan. Different format, same learning curve. If things click he could, very quickly, become first name inked on the teamsheet; if not, the management insist breathing space is built in.
Either way, Bulawayo offers an early taste of leading the line. And that, rather than headline numbers, is the metric Conrad seems keen to judge.
“Main dog” or not, Maphaka’s next spell starts soon enough, and plenty within the South African camp will be watching just as closely as those outside it.
