A new star is born

27 January 2016 - 02:33 By Telford Vice

Whenever you looked up at Centurion yesterday, Kagiso Rabada seemed to be taking a wicket. He claimed 6/32 in England's second innings for a match haul of 13/144. If you blinked you might have missed SA taking England's last seven wickets for 49 in 66 minutes to win the fourth Test by 280 runs and to narrow the series gap to 2-1 in the visitors' favour.As Rabada took his 13th wicket to end the match, a smiling giant rose and applauded in the back of the press box, his mighty hands meeting in loud and repeated celebration. It was the praise of someone who had been there, done that. The hands belonged to Makhaya Ntini, the only other living South African to have taken 13 wickets in a Test. Hugh Tayfield, who died in 1994, bagged 13 twice.After six Tests Rabada has 24 wickets.Ntini took 390 in 101 matches in a career spanning 11 years. The prospect of Rabada scaling those heights looks good.Which only added to Rabada's words when he said: "The key is to do it for 15 years, not one game."The rest of the SA team stood back to allow Rabada to lead them off the field and up the stairs to the dressing room.Up he loped as languidly as his 20-year-old legs would carry him, souvenir stump in hand.He paused halfway to hand that trophy to his father, Mpho Rabada, on the other side of the barricade applauding as lustily as Ntini, the Barmy Army and the smattering of locals who had turned out.Rabada took his baker's dozen in a match in which Morné Morkel was the only other SA bowler to claim more than one wicket.It was left to AB de Villiers to do Rabada's bragging on his behalf."Every time I asked him to perform he did," De Villiers said. "He showed the maturity of a guy who's played 100 Tests and the pace of a guy who's only played one or two. He is the future."After SA's rocky recent past, the present doesn't look half bad.Day 5 of the final test by the numbers0 - South African bowlers who have taken 10 wickets in a Test at a younger age than Kagiso Rabada, who was 20 years and 242 days old at the start of this match. The previous youngest was Hugh Tayfield, who was 23 years and 329 days when he took 13 for 165 against Australia at Melbourne in 1952-53.13/144 - Rabada's figures are the second-best for South Africa in Test history. Only Makhaya Ntini, who took 13 for 132 against West Indies in Port of Spain in 2004-2005, has had better match figures than Rabada.1 - Number of bowlers who have taken 13 or more wickets in a Test at a younger age than Rabada. Narendra Hirwani, at the age of 19 years and 85 days, took 16 for 136 against West Indies in Chennai in 1987-1988.280 - Victory margin for South Africa, their second-best, in terms of runs, against England in Tests.9 - Number of Tests without a win for South Africa, before this one. This result ends their longest winless sequence since 1964-1965.16-2 - South Africa's win-loss record at Supersport Park, in 21 Tests. Their win-loss ratio is the second-highest for a team at a venue where they have played 20-plus Tests.ESPN Cricinfo..

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