South Africa selected leg-spinner Nqabayomzi Peter for the last two ODIs of their bilateral series against Afghanistan, despite him having just four List A wickets to his name. Here's why.
Nqabayomzi 'Nqaba' Peter was named in South Africa's ODI squad to face Afghanistan in Sharjah, off the back of having been involved with the national team on their T20I tour to West Indies ahead of the T20 World Cup this year. He was not involved when they returned after the World Cup though.
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The 22-year-old made his international debut on that tour in May, playing the second and third T20Is. On debut, the leg-spinner took 2-32 in his four overs, dismissing Brandon King and Kyle Mayers. In his second game, Peter proved expensive, conceding 27 in his two overs for the wicket of Johnson Charles.
He had a poor outing for South Africa's 'A' side in their ODI series against Sri Lanka earlier this month as well, with figures of 1-58 and 0-71 in ten and nine overs respectively. Coupled with his List A record (or lack thereof), it seems a strange choice for South Africa to pick him against Afghanistan.
Why was Nqaba Peter selected for the ODI series against Afghanistan?
He suffered more poor form on ODI debut, conceding 68 runs in his 10 overs for the solitary wicket of Rahmat Shah. He did considerably better in his second outing on Sunday (September 22), picking up 2-22 in five overs.
To put it bluntly, Peter is a wrist-spinner from South Africa who is not on the wrong side of 35. Both of the Proteas' go-to wrist spinners in white-ball cricket over the last decade, Tabraiz Shamsi and Imran Tahir, are coming to the end of their careers in international cricket. With wrist-spinners considered a necessary part of any limited-overs team in modern-day cricket, it is no surprise that South Africa are looking for their newest prospect there.
While his List A record is nothing to write home about, Peter does have a very good T20 record. His SA20 debut for Paarl Royals did not go to plan earlier this year, as he conceded 27 runs in 1.5 overs but he did pick up the wicket of Proteas skipper Temba Bavuma.
His best performances came just ahead of the tour to West Indies in May, in the CSA T20 Challenge. In 10 matches for eventual champions Gauteng in the 2024 season, Peter took 20 wickets, the second-highest in the competition. In a country where pitches tend to favour seam bowlers, this is no mean feat.
But in addition to striking with regularity, Peter proved an economical bowler as well. Only Boland's Imraan Manack bowled over 50 deliveries and recorded a better economy rate than Peter's 5.84. His standout performance came in the semi-final against Northerns, as he derailed the middle-order by getting rid of Sibonelo Makhanya, Neil Brand, David Wiese and Corbin Bosch to finish with 4-18 and restrict them to 131.
Peter's ability to bowl quick through the air is reminiscent of Tahir, but he has a higher-arm action than both Tahir and Shamsi, which gives him the extra weapon of bounce. It is still early days, but if South Africa can get Peter comfortable in and around the national team setup, he could be a real asset for them in the future.
Image credit: SA20
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