PASSION AND HUNGER
Tahir bowls over Proteas’ spin expert
Imran Tahir is perhaps the single biggest reason SA have won all 11 ODIs they have played since September
SA have arrived in New Zealand as the No1 one-day team and, with four of the top six in the batting line-up ranked among the leading seven in the format. But only two of their bowlers are in the top seven — Kagiso Rabada and a Rawalpindi-born enigma who turns 38 next month and is the top-ranked bowler in both short formats. Imran Tahir is perhaps the single biggest reason SA have won all 11 ODIs they have played since September. Even though he had not played in two, Tahir has infused SA’s play with intensity and determination. In a national cricket culture policed by pacemen and in a format designed to deify batsmen‚ a champion wrist spinner makes no sense. Except in the only sense that matters: Tahir gets people out and does not go for too many runs. "A lot of spinners only peak late in their career‚ and that’s got a lot to do with the experience they pick up‚" SA’s spin consultant‚ Claude Henderson‚ said. "Immi has probably been at his best the last two years because of the experi...
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