Holes in the wall
I have followed young Nkosana Sibiya's journey with interest over the past couple of years.
Cricket South Africa just announced the u19 squad that will go on a tour to England. This is the story of one of the players selected. I have watched him with interest over the past two years. Ladies and gentlemen, I present, Nkosana Sibiya.
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Nkosana Sibiya and his great-grandmother created a timeless image. One that is difficult to forget and should probably have been immortalised in a painting. Everyday, a four-year-old Sibiya stationed himself 10 to 12 metres away from the perimeter wall, ready to face deliveries. His octogenarian great-grandmother perched herself on a low stool or an empty beer crate with a pile of ball of balls beside her.
Sibiya was never at the risk of running out of cricket balls. His father, Ntsongo, bought him all types, from tennis balls to rubber ones. In all of that, Sibiya preferred his great-grandmother’s hand-made ones. She dedicated hours of creating the balls from plastic shopping bags.
His great-grandmother’s handmade balls offered a unique challenge: they didn’t bounce and required effort to hit. Sibiya embraced the challenge and was routinely driving them into the wall, an old hollow brick job. He faced so many throwdowns that he punched indents into in the wall.
At one point, it got so bad that the indents developed into holes and she had to find contractors to rebuild it. One of his great-grandmother’s favourite refrain was, ‘Mosimane o tla ya kgakala ka selo se a se tshamekang’ — this boy is going to go far with the game he loves.
“She would throw the ball to him, and he would hit it back to her, trying not to hit her at the same time,” Ntsongo, Sibiya’s father, recalled.
Sibiya had an insatiable appetite for hitting balls, which sometimes overwhelmed his great-grandmother. Fortunately, she didn’t have to do it alone. There was an endless supply of relievers ranging from Sibiya’s parents to auntie and cousins. Next door neighbors knew they were always on call. Visitors weren’t spared the honour. Everyone made their way to Sibiya’s favoured spot close to the wall.
Sibiya was so attached to his bat that on rainy days, he faced deliveries indoors, where he seemed intent on lofting deliveries through the ceiling. That seemed to be Sibiya’s preoccupation, punching holes into barriers before him. He love for his bat made preschool drop-off difficult.
“He didn’t enjoy it much and often cried. The school had a strict no-toys policy, but they eventually relented and he was allowed to bring his bat, which made drop-offs easier,” Ntsongo shared.
It’s easy for a youngster to be the best batter in the world when they bat in the safety of their home. It is often a different proposition when they venture into the outside world. Sibiya was fortunate that his abilities translated beyond the family home’s hollow brick wall.
“When he was around four years old, we attended the Sunfoil Night hosted at the Soweto Cricket Oval. That’s when the Montrose Primary staff and management noticed him on the sidelines and invited him to join their school,” Ntsongo revealed.
Sibiya delivered his first big performance for Montrose Primary just five weeks before he turned seven. He scored a century, it was the first time he crossed the 50-run mark. It was a harbinger for greater things. Not long afterwards, Sibiya recorded his maiden double century in an NSSSC match.
One time, he arrived at the crease with his side floundering on 35/5. Sibiya knuckled down and scored a vital 61 that steered his side to a winning total. His consistency was so great that at one point, he qualified to play across all age groups, which meant he hardly practiced because he was playing matches every day of the week.
“One of his fondest memories is winning the Montrose Night tournament thrice, once for the u11s and twice with the u13s in consecutive years. The highlight was bowling the final over to secure victory for the second time in 2020,” Ntsongo shared.
Johannesburg has a vibrant club system, one of the best in country. It has been the bedrock in the development of players who include Connor Esterhuizen, Mitch van Buuren, and several others. South Africa’s Test captain, Temba Bavuma assimilated into the club cricket culture and joined Soweto CC as soon as he settled in Joburg. That gave him a front row seat to Sibiya’s development.
Bavuma was one of the few people who performed throwing duties for Sibiya on the sidelines of their weekend games. The Proteas skipper, who grew up in Langa, understands the difficulty of making it without access to the best development coaches. He set up the Temba Bavuma Foundation to help talented youngsters with scholarships to top cricketing schools to bridge the gap. Sibiya benefitted from the programme. He enrolled with St John’s College.
“My advice to Nkosana has always been to make the best of every opportunity given in life. When it comes to cricket, I remind him that it’s not about what the ball can do, but about what you want to do to the ball, so you need to be in control for as long as possible,” Ntsongo shared.
Sibiya arrived at St John’s determined to follow through on his father’s advice. The left-hander who had played up throughout his early years, proved himself to be too advanced for his peers. He was 15 when he made his first team debut and immediately proved himself to be invaluable.
In February 2024, Sibiya walked in to face the third delivery of the match against King Edward VII (KES). The left-hander played an inspired innings, scoring 153 from 154 balls to lead St John’s to 306 in 49.1 overs. None of his teammates got to 30 runs. Fortunately for the Blues, it was a match-winning innings.
Sibiya was one of the top batters at the 2024 National u17 Week, and made back-to-back trips to the Khaya Majola Week with the CSA Invitational XI in 2024 and 2025. However, his main goal was to be selected for the SA u19 side. The dream looked within reach when he was picked for the 23-man squad in early 2025. Then he had to watch it slip through his fingers.
The teenager can remember the day. May 5, 2025. Something in his hip gave away while he was attempting to complete a catch in a Jozi Cup match. It turned out to be a hip injury that ended his Jozi Cup campaign. The silver lining was that he could make the SA u19 camp for the tri-series with Bangladesh and Zimbabwe if he recovered in six weeks’ time.
Sibiya has a hand-drawn portrait of Ben Stokes in his room. He drew it himself in 2024. He has the England captain’s fight-against-all-odds mentality. Sibiya tried to hasten his recovery by sheer willpower. It didn’t happen. He was immobile for two weeks. His brother, sensing that the pain of losing the SA u19 opportunity was greater than the physical one, joined Sibiya in the living room, where he slept for 14 days.
Sibiya was in a race to be fit for the u19 camp. He wanted to launch into rehabilitation work as soon as he gained mobility. He realised on the first day of moving around the house with crutches that he was aiming too high. He spent another week convalescing before going into a three-week rehabilitation at the Wanderers Medical Centre. It got him close to his goal, but not close enough to help him pass the fitness test.
“He understood that why he couldn’t make the camp and made peace with it. He continued his rehab with Tim Fester until he completed his return to play programme,” Ntsongo explained.
Fortunately, CSA did not close the door on Sibiya’s SA u19 ambitions. If he was fit, he could still attend a later camp to decide the squad for the ICC u19 World Cup. Unfortunately, Sibiya re-injured his hip while on a tour of Sri Lanka with St John’s. The injury kept him out of action for another five weeks.
Sibiya has suffered injuries before but none had such an impact on his season. The second injury affected his performance at the trials for the Lions u19 squad for Khaya Majola Week. He also didn’t pass the fitness test for the SA u19 squad. However, the southpaw kept his nose on the grindstone. Twelve months later, he earned a maiden call-up to the SA u19 squad.
“Today, as I watch his journey unfold, I can’t help but think of her and wish she were here to see it,” Sibiya’s mother reflected.
She is there in spirit. The family still has one of her handmade balls. And if she could see him now, she would repeat that the money she spent repairing the wall was worth it.
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