The first morning of the first Castle Lager/MTN Test between South Africa and Zimbabwe at Sahara Park, Newlands, saw two South African players reach significant career milestones on Friday.
Makhaya Ntini took his 200th Test wicket, and Mark Boucher reached 300 Test dismissals.
When Ntini bowled Dion Ebrahim for three, he joined Shaun Pollock (375) and Allan Donald (330) as the only South Africans to achieve the milestone. He is the 46th player in the history of the game to reach the landmark.
He is the 11th current Test player to take more than 200 wickets.
Having made his debut against Sri Lanka in Cape Town in 1997/98, Ntini is playing in his 55th Test, the last 35 of which have been consecutive.
He took 31 Tests to reach 100 wickets and a further 24 Tests to collect the second 100.
Ntini’s Mercedes Warriors teammate Mark Boucher joined an even more select group later in the mornings play. The catch he took to get rid of Brendan Taylor off Ntini was his 300th Test dismissal, and he joins Australians Ian Healy (395) and Rod Marsh (355) as the only wicketkeepers to reach the milestone.
Boucher, who is playing his 79th Test match, has now taken 287 catches to add to his 13 stumpings. Adam Gilchrist (280) is fourth on the all-time list.
Cricket South Africa CEO Gerald Majola said: ”I congratulate Mark and Makhaya on reaching these milestones. Their achievements make us all very proud. Mark in particular can be justifiably proud of a truly outstanding achievement; he now ranks with the very best in the game.
”Makhaya is an inspiration to millions of South Africans and I am sure he will continue to strive to reach even greater heights.”
In recognition of their achievements, the two players will receive awards from Cricket SA, Castle Lager and MTN later in the Test match, as part of the United Cricket Boards Milestone Awards programme, which has been running for the past five seasons. — Sapa