Kgaudise Molefe’s Khaya Majola Week campaign affirms South Africa’s strong spin-bowling production line, writes KHALID MOHIDIN.
The 18-year-old enjoyed a marvelous campaign, racking up 21 wickets throughout the 2018 tournament. He ended as the week’s top wicket-taker, with the next best being Namibian finger spinner Mauritius Ngupita’s haul of 14 scalps.
Molefe’s performance included him winning Hero of the Day on day two for his 7-39 against Border, where he opened the bowling for Gauteng and bowled unchanged to hold an end for the entire innings. Gauteng skittled Border for 66, scored 211 and then reduced their opponents to 46-5.
The spinner has been truly the rock of Gauteng and key to SA U19’s success, and he is undoubtedly close to signing a franchise contract.
‘The two Coke Weeks have taught me to be patient, always work hard, never give up and to always be on top of my game,’ Molefe said exclusively to SACricketmag.com
‘It prepared me a lot for semi-pro cricket, for three-day cricket, the longer format especially. It helped me with keeping consistency with bowling on one spot and being patient.’
Besides Keshav Maharaj, Imran Tahir and Tabraiz Shamsi who are all excelling for the Proteas, the future looks bright for spin bowling in South Africa. Lions and Paarl Rocks bowler Bjorn Fortuin showed his versatility in the Mzansi Super League, Dane Piedt continues to dominate for the Cobras and there are many rising stars coming through, such as Dyllan Matthews, Neo Felane, Junaid Dawood, Nonelela Yika and Ruan Cronje, to name a few.
Although fast bowling production in the country has been brimming, the spin bowling pipeline is not far behind.
