Maphaka: I always want to come out on top of the fight

Kwena Maphaka is the youngest player to represent South Africa but that doesn't mean he has the least to say. Quite the opposite, in fact, which he showed when he also became the youngest bowler from a Full Member country to take a four-wicket haul in a T20I, against Australia in Darwin.

Australia were off to a flying start at 71 for 4 in the powerplay when Maphaka was brought on and the left-arm quick responded with the wicket of Mitchell Owen. The danger man, Tim David, had scored 18 off the first seven balls he had faced, including two sixes, and wanted to take Maphaka on. The first ball David faced from Maphaka was short and slow and he pulled it for one. The second was shorter, strayed down leg and was called wide. And the third was better directed, at David's chest. He could only splice it to point and at the height it came, David thought Maphaka needed to bowl it again.

"He went to the umpire and he was asking about it," Maphaka said the day after the match, which South Africa lost. He also revealed that he was having none of David's complaints. "I just told him to let the umpires deal with umpiring the game and he must focus on batting."

David took those words to heart. He went on to score 83 runs off 52 balls, including 13 off 11 balls from Maphaka but he was the only batter to send the 19-year-old to the boundary. Maphaka's four overs cost only 20 runs, he was the most economical bowler of the match and David was among the batters he dismissed in a career-best haul. After what he called "a few bad performances in Zimbabwe," where Maphaka picked up three wickets for 92 runs in 10.5 overs, he showed he belongs at this level.

"It feels really good, coming off a few bad performances in Zimbabwe and just building up, playing some more professional and competitive cricket in the past few months, it feels really good to put in a good performance for the team and make history while doing it," he said.

Maphaka opened the bowling in the second match South Africa played in the Zimbabwe tri-series last month and bowled two overs in the powerplay that cost 19 runs. He was used at first change in two matches after that, including the final, and both times also bowled in the powerplay. But against Australia, with Kagiso Rabada back in the South African XI after a rest, Maphaka was only called on after the fielding restrictions were lifted and that seemed to suit him better, though he was cautious not to see it as an attempt to shield him.

"It may have been a tactical ploy, but I think it's also just about giving me a little bit more freedom," he said. "I'm a guy that likes to take wickets in the middle and I think the team understands that. It was really just a tactical ploy in terms of getting wickets through the middle rather than protecting me as a player."

With Australia going as hard as they could upfront, South Africa needed someone to slow them down. Maphaka and left-arm spinner Senuran Muthusamy provided that. In the four overs after the powerplay, they gave away only 17 runs and took two wickets between them, which left Australia 88 for 6 at the halfway stage.

"When a team is coming out all guns blazing, there's a few more opportunities to take wickets so it's about being smart and understanding what you have to do when you're faced with those situations," Maphaka said. "Sometimes you go to a yorker, a bumper or a slower ball. It's all about reading the game and understanding what you need to do at that moment and keeping your plans as simple as possible, really."

All of those variations were on display as Maphaka was also given the job of bowling the penultimate over, where he took two wickets and mixed up his lengths well. He had David caught off a full delivery and dismissed Adam Zampa with a short ball and backed his skills to limit Australia to 178 at the end. "It's not about trying to over-complicate things or make it seem like it's a game of 20,000 deliveries. Just go to your best ball at a particular moment in time and back your plans. Belief is a massive part in performance, and I think I might have been a little bit short on belief in Zimbabwe, so that's probably one of the big takeaways from that series."

Before the Zimbabwe series, Maphaka had played five T20Is, two ODIs and a Test for South Africa, all before he had turned 19. Though his returns had been relatively modest, he would have had no doubt that South Africa see him as a key player in their future. Already, he has learnt how to manage that expectation. "The most important part is just really accepting the fact that you're going to have bad days, you're going to have good days, and it's just sticking to your game plan and sticking to whatever you do best. I'm not going to be the best player in the world overnight, and I understand that," Maphaka said. "It's all about growing as a player day by day, and just keeping focused on the grind and what I have to do to make myself better on a daily basis."

He has also learnt not to shy away from speaking about his aims to fulfil every ounce of his potential. "I've always been pretty confident and a real competitor," he said. "I never like losing. I always want to come out on top of the fight. It's something that's been instilled in me since I was really young."

Some would say, he still is.