POWER PLAY

THE Cricket South Africa Awards featured a special gong at Emperor’s Palace last week, where Makhaya Ntini presented the Makhaya Ntini Power of Cricket Award, which celebrates cricket’s ability to inspire and transform lives.

The award went to Proteas seam bowler Dane Paterson, who had a jitz season in Test cricket for South Africa.

As SA’s first black Test cricketer, Ntini is pleased that his own career helped inspire the likes of Paterson and many other players, especially in the women’s game.

Ntini wysed: “It means a lot that I really opened a path for everyone to understand and watch the game of cricket. The game of cricket now becomes bigger and bigger, especially when it comes to the ladies.

“The ladies are growing. We’ve just experienced the most important thing, where we saw [Nonkululeko] Mlaba almost cleaning everything [winning four awards].

“That, for me, tells us as people of South Africa that this country, slowly but surely, is getting better when it comes to cricket.”

Growing up in the rural areas of Mdingi, Ntini wouldn’t have dreamt of making it to the legendary status that he has now earned.

However, through sheer talent and dedication, the fast bowler inspired millions to pick up the sport and make a living out of it.

Ntini added: “When you’re 15, you don’t really know where you’re going. You’re just playing cricket for the fun of it. As you get to the age of 17, you start to see and people start to tell you that if you keep going, you can make a living out of this.

“Now, you look at the likes of [Dewald] Brevis, the likes of [Kwena] Maphaka, all of them started in the Under-19s and look at where they are today. I’m over the moon.”