The unbelievable Ntini

There is something inherently dark, borderline masochistic, about quick bowlers. Courtney Walsh cloaked it with a raised, philosophical brow; Andy Roberts rarely spoke — his choice of expression was the sadistic smile; Ray Lindwall, a man of great charm by most accounts, had his ugly moments; others, Jeff Thomson and Sarfaraz Nawaz among them, unabashedly chose to let it all hang out.

Ntini's run-up, while splendidly athletic, is earthy and grounded, not airy and ethereal as Holding's was — but now he meters how wide he leaps in delivery stride. Wasim Jaffer's hopeless pull at Durban from outside the off-stump was a consequence of this angle: those watching might say the Indian opener should have left it on line, but Jaffer was suckered into it because of the illusion that the delivery was straighter than it actually was.