POWERADE CHOSEN COLUMN 1 – MAKHAYA NTINI

I’m really excited about the upcoming Test series against Australia.

Playing the Aussies has always been something special, for me and for all of us really.

I made my international debut against Australia back in 1998 and, since then I have played against them at the World Cup, in T20 games, one-dayers and Test matches and they have all been among the toughest games I’ve ever played.

There’s something about the Australian team that has made them consistently the best in the world and beating them has always been something special.

They have a mental toughness that is always very difficult to get through, but it goes further than that. They have somehow always been one step ahead of us at just about everything about the game. For example, they are always first when it comes to new developments in kit and equipment. But they also have the best training techniques, the best nutritional advice and the best in scientific support.

The result was that they always seemed to have more quality players than the other countries did. I always felt we were playing catchup, but that was never a reason to just lie down and let them beat us. In the matches we played I always felt it brought out the best in us, and that made beating them, whenever we managed to do that, so much sweeter.

For me personally, I always wanted to test myself against the best around. So, bowling to players like Steve Waugh, Adam Gilchrist, Ricky Ponting and Matthew Haden was what I wanted to do.

Every Test wicket I took was special, but getting those guys out was, for me, a sign that I was on the top of my game.

I’ve been busy since my retirement from international cricket in January and I am still very involved with the game, playing for the Eastern Cape Warriors in all formats of the game. It’s always been my philosophy that I would not play unless I was 100% fit and I think that has contributed to me being relatively injury-free throughout my career.

That’s my advice to all sportsmen, in fact, there’s no point in playing if you aren’t physically at your best. So I’ve been training as hard as ever, and if you ask me whether I have regrets that I’m not going to be bowling to these Aussies I would have to say no.

I had a long and successful international career – I took 390 Test wickets - but I always said that when I walk away from it I will have no regrets and I don’t.

But of course I’m right behind the boys and I’ve been following the tour so far with interest.

I don’t think it’s true to say the limited overs games has been a failure for us. The performance of the team in the T20 game at the Wanderers and in the ODI in PE showed that we have high quality players, capable of brilliant cricket.

I think it’s just a matter of putting it all together at the right time, and there are signs that that’s happening now.

You have to remember that the players never had much cricket going into the tour. There’s a new coach, and they only got together three days before the first game. Some were in India, where conditions are completely different, some were training but not playing matches back home and some were injured.

So there were signs of rustiness in the limited overs games and it’s true to say that we made a slow start, with bat and ball in most of them. But when we were good, we were very good.

That’s a sign that the quality is still there, we just have to put it together consistently.

Roll on the Tests, I can’t wait.

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