Brave Botha's heroic revival

In 2006, a 23-year-old budding South African cricketer thought his career had come to an end.

Johan Botha was bowling for the Proteas in the third Test against Australia when the umpires decided that his off-break and doosra deliveries were illegal, resulting in his suspension.

His bowling was then analysed by an expert, Professor Bruce Elliott, who ruled he extended his elbow beyond the 15 degrees allowed under International Cricket Council rules.

How dark those days must have been for Botha, who, instead of turning his back on the game, consulted experts who helped him work hard on his action, which led to him being reinstated by the ICC later that year.

I wonder how many of those painful memories came into Botha's mind this week when he was unanimously praised by the international press, his opposing captain Ricky Pointing and a host of other players for his marvellous performance in leading his country to a historic ODI series victory over the mortal enemy.

Botha, thrust into the captaincy because of the injury to Graeme Smith, has surprised possibly even himself with his astute captaincy, clever bowling changes and twice being in the happy position of scoring the winning runs against the Aussies.

Naturally Botha's performances have stirred the debate about whether he is a better bowler than the present Test incumbent Paul Harris.

There are arguments for both men.

While Harris was widely criticised in some circles at the beginning of this year, he played his role in South Africa's victories over England and then in the Test series against the Australia.

His critics say he hardly spins the ball, is not the best in the field and only an average lower order batsman.

But with his flight and nagging accuracy, Harris has managed to contain one end, allowing Smith to rest his strike bowlers at the other end.

Valuable

But Harris also chipped in with some valuable wickets, including getting the scalp of Ricky Ponting twice in the Test matches.

Botha, for me, is the better bowler, even though his record in two Test matches do not reflect that. But in the ODI game, he has suddenly turned his fortunes around, which can only be good for his confidence.

His doosra, which fooled Ponting and got him out in the ODI series, was a beauty and he consistently slowed down the Aussie run rate with his ability to bowl full at the leg stump, jamming the batsmen who were restricted and could only get singles or, even better for Botha, forced to block for a dot ball.

But it was his captaincy which proved to be the biggest bonus. While he looked wide-eyed and hassled in the two Twenty20 matches, he blossomed in the four one-day games (with the final match to come tomorrow). He has led from the front and, almost overnight, gone from zero to hero.

What is good news for South Africa is that we now have two spinners to call in in the different formats of the game.

Who knows, but on some of the sub-continent pitches, there might even be a case of the Proteas playing Botha and Harris if the conditions are right.

Now that would really be something for a country known almost exclusively as a fast bowler's paradise.