He already has 18 wickets in the World Cup, juggles cricket, hockey and higher education and everything points to him being a star in the making.
Firdose Moonda
Kwena Maphaka was 15 when he played his first U-19 international, just six when he played for his school’s Under-9 team and three when he first picked up a cricket ball and realized he might know what to do with it.
“They told me I started playing because my brother needed someone to play cricket in the backyard,” he told ESPNcricinfo from Johannesburg as South Africa prepare to play India in the U-19 World Cup semi-final in Benoni on Tuesday . “The first memory I have is from about four years old, and it was a typical game of cricket in the garden with an older brother. He would get me out early and then I would bowl to him all day and he would get me out. of the garden. Well, I wouldn’t call it bowling. I was just throwing him the ball.”
Whatever it was, it worked.
A little over a decade after his brother made him hunt for hide, Maphaka is chasing records. Already, he has more wickets than any South African in U-19 World Cups – 25 in two editions – and the joint-most by a South African in a single edition of the tournament: 18. Five away from the most wickets by any bowler in an U-19 World Cup – Bangladesh Enamul Haque had 22 in 2004 – and the way it’s gone so far suggests it could get there. Maphaka’s haul from five matches includes three five-times, the most of any player at U-19 World Cups, but wickets are not the only signs that he is a future star.
Mafaka is quick – “the guys in the team say around 140” – and slow to come in, and has a hostile bouncer and an accurate yorker. More importantly, he also has the knowledge and experience having played in 17 youth ODIs over three years – the most from a South African in that time period – including two World Cups.
In the 2022 World Cup, Mafaka (then 15) played three of South Africa’s six matches and took seven wickets at an average of 18.28 with an economy rate of 18.28. This year, he led the charge in all five of South Africa’s games. His 18 wickets have come at an average of 9.55 and his economy rate is 3.95, which shows the biggest improvement he believes he has made between tournaments: “I have become quicker but the main thing I have worked on is to be in control with rhythm. If you’re just fast, you’ll get hit all over the place, but if you’re in control, there’s something special.”
“I’ve always wanted to make as high a team as I can in every sport I play. If all goes well with cricket, this will probably be my last year in hockey, so I just want to make it as memorable as possible.”Kwena Maphaka
In the West Indies at the last World Cup, Mafaka benefited from veteran domestic (and now men’s national Test) coach Shukri Conrad and seasoned pro Rory Kleinveldt. He was told to “keep working on my stock ball and try to get a bit more variation in my game and also work on my batting quite a bit”.
He took this advice with St Stithians, an elite Johannesburg institution where he is currently in his final year of high school and where he competes in multiple disciplines. Mafaka took up gymnastics and athletics and ran a 100m sprint “in 11 seconds flat” and still plays tennis and hockey, the latter at provincial level. “A big ambition of mine is to make the Southern Gauteng Under-18 A team this year,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to make as high a team as I can in every sport I play. If all goes well with cricket, this will probably be my last year in hockey, so I just want to make it as memorable as possible.”
You may also have heard of St Stithians because it is the alma mater of one of the country’s greatest cricketers of all time: Kagiso Rabada, who became a ‘mentor’ to Maphaka and ‘sent me a message of good luck in the world. Cup”. Mafaka will know that it only took eight months for Rabada to make his senior international debut after winning the U-19 World Cup with South Africa in March 2014.
“I’m just trying to take it one day at a time,” Maphaka said. “My main focus is the Under-19 World Cup. I’m trying to focus on things that are happening now rather than things that may or may not happen later.”
But things have already happened. Mafaka has an SA20 deal with Paarl Royals – although he has been unable to play this season due to the World Cup – and has played for South Africa’s A team and has started to play some domestic cricket for the Lions. He hopes that he will have a contract next year, after his studies, but has also left room for further studies. “I’m really into sports management and sports psychology. I’d either go into sports management and clinical psychology and sports psychology,” he said. “But cricket is a sport of discipline and patience and that’s something I really like about it. My dream would be to represent South Africa in all three formats.”
This is for the future. For now, Maphaka is laser-focused on the World Cup. After bowling South Africa in wins over the West Indies and Sri Lanka – the opener in a game where the West Indies were 190 for 5 chasing 286 and had to dismiss the tail – he looks back at India’s game and the good vibes it created his team . “I always like a challenge. Facing the best is the best way to prove yourself. It’s a great way to test yourself and India are definitely one of the best teams,” he said. “And we expect Benoni’s crowd to be probably the biggest. It’s going to be special to see how much people care about this team.”
Among them will be Maphaka’s parents, who have been to every game so far, and his older brother Tetelo, a left-arm spinner who is also on the fringes of provincial selection. And this time, Mafaka won’t have to bowl to him all day.
Firdose Moonda is ESPNcricinfo’s South Africa and women’s cricket correspondent