Makhaya Ntini was born on 6 July 1977 and had bowled for the South African national team since 1998. He grew up in a small village in the Eastern Cape called Mdingi. Raymond Booi, a cricket development officer for Border Cricket noticed Ntini’s talent while travelling around the area introducing the game to rural boys.

One day Booi called together a group of boys and gave Ntini a ball to bowl. He immediately showed a great deal of raw talent and Booi arranged for him to attend Dale College in King William’s Town. Ntini was 14 and couldn’t speak English, but soon excelled and in 1994 and 1995 he represented Border Schools at the Nuffield Week for under 19s. He was also in the under 19 national team and made his first class debut against England in 1995, where he bowled Alec Stewart out.

Ntini became popular amongst national selectors as a talented Black player and made his one-day debut in January 1998 against New Zealand in Perth. His first test match was in Cape Town against Sri Lanka and was part of the winning South African team in the Commonwealth Games.

In December 1998 Ntini was accused of rape. He insisted that he was innocent, and although the United Cricket Board supported him, he was found guilty. He faced a 6 year jail sentence and even though he had the Cricket Board’s backing they couldn’t pay his legal fees, eliminating any possibility for appeal. Dr. Ali Bacher arranged overseas funding for the appeal and the conviction was overturned. Ntini once again played for the national team and has conducted himself exceptionally throughout his prolific career.

Sources

http://www.worldwidecricket.com/Players/South_Africa_Player_Profiles/Makhaya_Ntini.htm
http://people.africadatabase.org/people/data/person4005.html
http://people.africadatabase.org/people/data/person4005.html

Link for further reading

http://www.cricketzone.com/player/P174.html - Ntini’s stats.