Agence France Presse

Johannesburg, February 2

Mfuneko Ngam, hailed as the future of South African fast bowling on his debut three seasons ago, was named on Monday in the South African squad to tour New Zealand.

Ngam, 25, has fought a frustrating battle against a series of injuries and his selection may be an act of faith as much as an indication that he is ready to make a major impact on the cricket world.

It is the first season since his debut that Ngam has not missed a game through injury but his form has been unconvincing.

Ngam, then 21, was picked for the third Test against New Zealand in Johannesburg in 2000/01 and would have had a wicket with his fourth ball if Daryll Cullinan had not dropped a straightforward catch at first slip. He took two for 34 in a game reduced to one innings by rain.

Ngam then played in two Tests against Sri Lanka, taking three wickets in each innings of the second Test at Newlands, Cape Town, where he bowled with electrifying pace which clearly discomfited the touring team.

The youngster from Motherwell, a poor black area near Port Elizabeth, had beaten the odds to make it to the top and was set to join Makhaya Ntini as a black cricketing hero.

After the Newlands match, though, Ngam was diagnosed with a stress fracture of the right thigh.

Since then, it has been a litany of injury woes — two operations on his right shoulder and a total of five stress fractures. He would no sooner make a comeback than he would be put out of action again.

This season, a special diet and patient rehabilitation seem to have worked. Ngam has played for Eastern Province throughout the domestic season, which started in October. Initially coach Kepler Wessels, the former Test captain, ensured that Ngam bowled in short spells and he was told not to try to bowl too fast.

Gradually he has built up his pace, although experts are not convinced that he has recovered the blistering speed that saw him timed at 150kmh when he was first picked for South Africa.

But he bowled briskly enough when he played for South Africa A against the touring West Indians in a limited overs match in Paarl last month, taking two for 48, to convince selection convenor Omar Henry he was ready to play for his country again.

Ngam has been selected for the squads for both a six-match one-day series and three Tests in New Zealand.

Also back after injury is left-arm spinner Nicky Boje, who broke his left ankle while fielding during a one-day series in England in July.

The only uncapped player is all-rounder Albie Morkel, 22, who is in the squad for the current one-day series against the West Indies but has not yet played.

The one-day squad departs on Saturday. The first one-day international is in Auckland February 13.

ODI SQUAD: Graeme Smith (captain), Mark Boucher, Nicky Boje, Boeta Dippenaar, Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Kallis, Lance Klusener, Albie Morkel, Mfuneko Ngam, Andre Nel, Makhaya Ntini, Robin Peterson, Shaun Pollock, Ashwell Prince, Jacques Rudolph

TEST SQUAD: Dippenaar, Prince, Peterson and Klusener will be replaced by Paul Adams, Gary Kirsten, Neil McKenzie and Martin van Jaarsveld.