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Makhaya Ntini

HARARE. — Perched atop the little hillock leading up to the grass-bank behind the practice area at Harare Sports Club, Makhaya Ntini is prophesying and sounds every bit an itinerant preacher too.

And his voice so booming that he can be heard not just around the ground but even in the HSC’s massive parking-lot.

Ntini has always done things his own unique way. He’s always been an eccentric. Nobody, including him, has ever been really able to tell exactly how.

Long before he became South Africa’s first-ever black international cricketer and then subsequently upon retiring was roped in by neighbouring Zimbabwe as a bowling coach, he was a shepherd — and no we’re not drawing any Biblical connotations here.

“Never did one of my cows stray away under my watch. All my cows knew the name that I had kept for them. I would just scream their respective name and say turn around, and instantaneously they would obey my orders.”

When he’s not screaming, he is whistling.

It’s a loud whistle, almost a supersonic, and one which can give any vuvuzela a run for its money in terms of its screechiness.

Like one of his cohorts tells you, “It’s better to respond to his whistle or else he will start screaming towards you.”

He talks about how his team have struggled to rotate strike often, and how they have let the Indian bowlers have their way with them.

But he is quick to say that it’s just a matter of breaking out of the old mind-sets.

It’s not like Ntini is just clowning around with his bowlers. He’s making poignant points too about lengths and lines they should be focusing on.

But often it takes them a couple of minutes to decipher whether he’s pulling their leg or actually being serious.

Even in the build-up to this series, he had spoken about wanting to sweep the Indian team under the carpet and send a message to the boards around the world that they better start sending their strongest teams to Zimbabwe.

Then after his team’s shocking collapse on Monday, he revealed to have wanted to hang himself off a tomato tree.

“Well, they need to find a tomato tree first for that to happen. Even then hanging myself off one is not going to kill me.”

Vusi Sibanda, now in his 12th year of international cricket, has seen many Zimbabwean coaches come and go. But certainly not one like Ntini.

And he admits that it’s a challenge to get used to Ntini.

“He’s a unique character for sure. And his enthusiasm and energy rubs off on the team as well. I have played a lot of cricket against Makhaya before, and he’s always been this sort of person, who speaks out whatever is on his mind,” says Sibanda.

“It can get to you when he’s being very blunt or saying something very critical about your play the way he does.

“But he generally doesn’t let it linger for more than two minutes and then goes back to fooling around.

It can get a little irritating at times, especially if you are a mellow person like me who prefers to chill and have his space and to have someone so hyper around you. But I like him, he’s a good man and I know he has genuine intentions for this team.”

Another senior player, however, feels like Ntini has a lot to offer for the young bowlers in the team.

But as far as HSC is concerned, there’s hardly anyone, from waitresses at the Centurion Pub to the many members who frequent the club that Ntini doesn’t seem to know personally.

Nor anyone who’s not aware of his ways and his whistles. “Ehhh what you guys discussing?,” he screams at a group of men who’ve gathered around near the dressing-rooms before saying, “I get worried when I see guys forming a circle and discussing,” and then breaks out into a song whose lyrics aren’t safe enough to be published.—The Indian Express.