<i>In search of Ntini</i>
It is very easy to find out the house number twenty-seven in Lagoon drive in Beacon Bay in this city. Because there lives a hero of the Eastern Province called Makhaya Ntini, one of the most dazzling fast bowlers in modern day cricket.
How popular is he? Just ask a taxi driver and he will take you to the right destination and give you a lively lecture about the bowler, who is the first black cricketer to play for South Africa.
“You know, he (Ntini) is not only popular in the city but also all over South Africa. He is a very good cricketer and a nice guy and the role model of the youngsters. His behaviour is fantastic and that's why everybody loves him,” said Graeme, an aged taxi driver who has enough in his memory to provide almost all the statistics of world cricket.
Obviously he is a role model, as following his footsteps another quick bowler Monde Zondeki came into the fold from the same area.
The elderly man's excitement only showed that he has no boundary in his mind about anybody's skin colour as he also reminded how a certain quarter tried to put an end to his career by charging him on a rape case.
Ntini's career looked to be coming to an end in 1999 when he was charged and then convicted of rape, which caused widespread controversy in South Africa, and finally he was declared innocent and acquitted on appeal. He then began to rebuild his international cricket career.
“You know some people only tried to trap him,” said Graeme.
It was not sure whether the cricketer is available in his house as the right-arm paceman has been playing domestic cricket before the start of the two-match Test series against Bangladesh but still the intention was to know about him from his family members as well as how a boy who was a cattle herd became a national hero.
Interestingly the light was switched off in the house once the car entered through the front gate.
There was no other choice for a couple of Bangladeshi reporters rather than returning from very near of the house of East London's hero with broken hearts.
Without any doubt it was a failed attempt but the journey helped to know about how popular one cricketer could be in his country regardless of colour and creed.
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