It would be a little wide of the mark to venture that Kagiso Rabada has “carried” the South African Test pace attack in recent times.
Not when, just for example, young Marco Jansen has been developing in leaps and bounds: the tall, slim left-armer sports 28 wickets after only five appearances and played his own sterling role in the Proteas’ fiction-like fightback to share the just-completed series on New Zealand soil with the World Test Championship title-holders.
But as the undisputed leader of the speed arsenal, Rabada’s own combination of guile, consistency and statistical inspiration has been quite invaluable in a period where the Test team is regrouping much faster than anticipated and won two and split one of their last three series - two of them in foreign climes.
