A young tearaway plying his trade in the South African provincial competition has just introduced himself to Pakistani cricket.
He did it by taking 7/29 in 11 overs and four balls and routing the Pakistanis for 156. He’s no bunny.
He has 141 First Class wickets already.
The Foxtel commentators said Kyle Abbott is just one of many quicks ready to back up Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander.
God help us all if Abbott is an indication of that.
I watched him bowl last night and he was as quick as both Steyn and Morkel. He can get unpredictable bounce and is as athletic as Steyn in the field.
He runs like a sprinter.
He is 25 years old. The deck was flat and perfect for batting but he just plain blitzed them.
He is very front on in his action and Shaun Pollock says he can bowl genuine outswing, although there wasn’t great evidence of that last night at Super Sports Park in Centurion, Guateng Province.
He has that bustling approach that Philander has, but he is more athletic than Vernon and looks less prone to injury.
He can hold a bat, he throws well and looks a great find. If he can bat like Philander, look out.
The strain on South Africa’s quicks is already apparent, as is the case with England and Australia.
India is not producing enough fast men, and they will lag behind these three nations as a consequence.
They cannot dominate away from home, and even there they have been known to struggle.
South Africa have overhauled their side with great success.
They have named a world class batsman as a wicketkeeper, something no other nation has grasped effectively, and they have backup keeper/batsmen.
It is now the case that batting is more important in cricket than the ability to be a world class wicketkeeper because AB De Villiers is not, although he is mighty close. He is a joy to watch as a keeper even now.
His application and dedication to the task is admirable. He has shown the world it can be done. And he has done it for the betterment of the team, not his batting.
Justin Langer is doing the same thing with Sam Whiteman in Western Australia.
They have every tool in the kit bag that is required to be a force in all three forms of the game, with the possible exception of two world class spinners.
And they are not hampered by cricketing sentiment. They think like modern world class professionals and apply those skills to their media commentators, their administrators, their coaching staff, their ground staff and so on.
If anyone is thinking of beating South Africa soon, you better get six quicks ready to fight fire with fire.
I think it is the most exciting thing to happen to cricket in at least two weeks…and I say that because international cricket is just going from one amazing highlight reel to another as 20-20, 40-40 and Test cricket just continue to unearth wonderful talent.
Did I say 40-40???
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