Nqaba Peter first came to prominence among the broader South African cricket public when he was named as the Paarl Royals’ replacement for Kwena Maphaka at the SA20 in January.
This was significant news because Kwena was a major talking point and the Royals’ marquee signing of the season. The Royals secured Kwena by signing him before the auction. However, due to his SA U19 commitments, Kwena could not commit to the Royals this year.
A replacement needed to be found, so the Royals’ management signed two players: Peter and Kieth Dungeon as replacements for Lhuan-dre Pretorius. While Peter was the replacement for Kwena, Keith was actually Kwena’s direct replacement since they are both pace bowlers, even though Kwena is a leftie and Keith is a right-arm bowler.
Nqaba is a leg-spinner from Border cricket. He progressed through the Border youth system before being part of the University of Fort Hare – CSA Cricket Academy under Burton de Wett. While at UFH, Nqaba got a taste of senior cricket in 2021 when Border (Eastern Cape Inyathi) gave him a T20 debut against Limpopo.
In the same season, Mzansi Super League side WP Blitz selected Nqaba at the draft. Unfortunately, that edition of the tournament never took place.
Nqaba continued to work on his craft, and during the off-season, DP World Lions signed Nqaba with a high-performance development contract, along with Wandile Makwetu, who returned from the Knights.
Then he was picked to be part of the SA Emerging team that was touring Zimbabwe even before playing for the Lions. His big break came when the Royals signed him as Kwena’s replacement. The significant thing about this signining is that Nqaba had only played 4 times for the Lions. His returns in the One Day Cup were not great.
Yet the Royals management under Shane Bond and Kumar Sangakara thought it was good he joined the spin twins of Bjorn Fortuin and Tabriaz Shamsi. The setup at the Royals was like home away from home for Nqaba because the Royals had Bjorn, Mitchell van Buuren, Evan Jones, and Codi Yusuf in their squad who are also his Lions teammates.
Nqaba got to experience SA20 by playing one match against the champions Sunrisers Eastern Cape, and he took 1 wicket in that match.
At the conclusion of the tournament, South African domestic cricket returned to 4-Day cricket. The Lions did not play Nqaba in the tournament, so he is yet to play an official first-class game.
When the format changed from 4-Day to T20 cricket, Nqaba finally got his extended chance. The Lions initially were leaving Nqaba from their playing XI. Even in his debut T20 match for the Lions against Hollywoodbets Dolphins, he went wicketless.
The Lions head coach Russell Domingo would pick him again against the GBets Paarl Rocks at Boland Park. This was his homeground for the Royals. It was a field and pitch still fresh in his mind, and he produced his best bowling figures at the time of 3 for 14 in 4 overs.
In the CSA T20 Challenge, Nqaba has played 4 more matches, and he has been one of the Lions’ keys to their good run as they sit at number 2 in the log standings behind Dafabet Warriors. Nqaba currently has 10 wickets in the tournament, and he has a better economy rate than the impressive David Wiese and Siya Simetu. His best bowling spell was against World Sport Betting Western Province at Newlands when he took 4 for 7.
While the return of David in the South African domestic cricket has been insane, Siya’s return to professional cricket after many years at club cricket has probably been the best story of the season. As for Nqaba, at just 21 years and for a wrist spinner, he has been the best young hidden gem in South African cricket this season. That is no shade to Steve Stolk, Lhuan-dre, Kwena, Ronan Herrmann, and other promising SA youngsters. Nqaba has turned out to be an invaluable signing for the Lions in their T20 Challenge campaign. Hopefully, the Lions will give him a professional contract for next season. The Lions have a good chance of finishing with two trophies this season. This could be Domingo’s second T20 trophy this season after winning the SA20 as the Sunrisers assistant coach under Adrian Birrell.
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