Over & out

Engulfed in broken huddles by his team mates,the now former South Africa fast bowler bowed to the crowds,timing his namaste in complete sync with the exploding firecrackers. The 33-year old playfully pulled off umpire Brian Jerling’s hat,before running back to his fielding position to cackling decibel levels. Other than of course the Bollywood Night scheduled for later in the evening,this was the reason that 62,000 spectators filled Moses Mabhida. Hardly anyone had come to witness fours and sixes; they were here to bid goodbye to their greatest black cricketer — an old workhorse who had scalped 266 ODI and 390 Test wickets.

The massive digital screens in the stadium blared messages from common fans to current SA players to past legends. As they all waxed eloquent about Ntini’s contributions to cricket,the words were stuffed between a non-stop montage of his playing career. The paying public got their money’s worth when Ntini made his overwhelming entrance from the dug-outs,before he was paraded around the stadium.

Draped in a tight-fitting South Africa green,Ntini ran around the park while putting on display his full spectrum of dance moves — from pelvic ones for Hindi pop to head bangs during Afro hiphop.

As the South African national anthem kicked off the game,the camera focused on Ntini’s cheek-bones,searching for that elusive tear. “Crying? Me? I’m not a baby. It’s going to emotional,that’s for sure,” Ntini had said. On Sunday,he would realise just how emotional it was going to be.

Having not played international cricket for nearly two years,the rust showed as he was hammered to every corner. But Ntini didn’t care.

Bowling from the end that Carles Puyol scored against Germany,Ntini went for six runs in his first over,before being tortured for 20 runs in the second. Nothing was going to wipe that evergreen smile from his face,not even when Rohit Sharma flicked him off his trimmed waist for a six. The over read: 4,1,4,4,1,6,but Ntini was still laughing.

But never count Ntini out of a cricket match,even when he doesn’t have a ball in his hands. Relegated to the position of deep-midwicket,Ntini timed a jump to perfection on the ovular boundary,clutching onto the leather with his outstretched fingertips to end Rohit’s innings of 53. The crowds screamed as Ntini danced.

Later,after being punished for one more maximum off the penultimate ball of his final international over,Ntini charged in one last time with cheers of “wicket,wicket” on his bent spine. The ball ran away for a double,but this time — like Ntini — nobody seemed to care. As the fireworks on the eye-shaped roof enthralled one and all,Ntini’s career ended just the way it had started 13 years ago – with a bang.