While South Africa face an anxious wait over the availability of pace spearhead Kagiso Rabada for the Australia Tests in October, 20-year-old Kwena Maphaka is willing to step into his boots if needed.
The fast bowler, who has played only two Tests, could find himself thrust into the spotlight in a season that includes eight Tests, 12 ODIs and at least five T20Is (including the ongoing tri-series in Namibia) and will require careful management of the pace pack.
"I really hope that KG [Rabada] is back in time. But if that doesn't happen, it's one of those things where somebody has to step up, and if that's me, I'm really confident in my abilities," Maphaka said from Windhoek, where South Africa will play their third match of the competition on Tuesday. "I've led a bowling attack before with the Lions, with South Africa under-19 and I've been in the Proteas for a little bit now. So yeah, I'm really confident in my abilities."
Rabada, who injured his right hamstring in training a few days ago, has been ruled out of the ODIs against Australia but an exact timeline on his availability for the three-match Test series has not been provided. On Sunday, Cricket South Africa said a decision on Rabada's selection will be taken "closer to the series" start date, which is on October 9.
Should Rabada need more time to be match-ready, South Africa have a host of other quicks who can step into the role of leader, including Marco Jansen, Lungi Ngidi and Corbin Bosch but Maphaka's enthusiasm to make the step up won't go unnoticed. Though his international career is still in its infancy and he has only played one first-class match for the Lions in each of the last two seasons, he has pedigree in other formats.
In 2024, Maphaka was the leading wicket-taker and player of the tournament at the Under-19 World Cup and the following season, he was the joint highest-wicket-taker in the CSA domestic T20 challenge, which his team, Lions won. He believes he can translate those successes into the longer format and has used the last few months working on how to do that. "After not playing in the IPL, I definitely just wanted to knuckle down, work on my game, leading into a massive summer," Maphaka said.
Though he was retained by Rajasthan Royals, Maphaka didn't get a game at this year's IPL, and then made an "intentional" decision not to play elsewhere. "Coach Shuks (Shukri Conrad, South Africa head coach) and I had a chat about skipping the leagues in the winter to have a bit of a rest and then do some work leading into a big summer," Maphaka told Cricinfo.
He spent June, July and August with South Africa's bowling coach Piet Botha and Lions' bowling coach Allan Donald with the goal to improve his red-ball skills. "The biggest thing for me was really working on my consistency. I was decent in the T20 format, but there was a lot of work to do in the longer formats that would also help in T20s," Maphaka said. "We worked on a little bit of my run-up but the biggest thing was just consistency and making sure that I can hit an area as consistently as possible. I feel that I've done that so far."
Maphaka has played one match since he made those changes and was economical and impressive. He took 1 for 24 in four overs in South Africa's win over Zimbabwe, where he bowled second change and mixed it up cleverly between short balls, slower deliveries and wide yorkers. "I was really, really pleased with the performance against Zimbabwe," he said.
Perhaps that kind of bowling won't be on display in Tests but Maphaka's commitment to being difficult to get away is something that is a clear feature of his winter progress. He also played two List A matches for South Africa against England A in June and was the most economical seamer.
He will have more opportunity to show what he can do in the fifty-over format when South Africa play Namibia in three ODIs next month, with one eye on next year's fifty-over World Cup. "It'll be a massive privilege and a massive honour (to be involved in that)," Maphaka said. "I'd definitely love to be in the squad and hopefully I could be one of the leaders at the forefront of next year's World Cup, especially being a home World Cup. I've had the opportunity to play a home Under-19 World Cup, something that a lot of people haven't been able to do. That experience and being able to play in front of home crowds would be really special to do a second time round."
For now, Maphaka will consider the possibility of those fans seeing the World Test Champions in action on their own turf for the first time since they lifted the mace and knows he may have to play a role in their title defence. He may not have much of a reputation as a red-ball bowler yet, but he certainly has the right attitude. "I've had a good start and I'm just looking to continue that momentum into the summer. I think I'll be able to do the job if I'm asked to do so."