Player Profile: Muhammed Bulbulia (Fields College)
Muhammed Bulbulia held his pose. The ball pierced the gap between the fielders at mid-off and cover and raced to the boundary. Five balls earlier, he had taken a single to bring up his ton.
The 18-year-old celebrated the century in an understated manner. This is his natural disposition, and his admiration of Hashim Amla reinforces it.
“Hashim Amla’s journey is a perfect source of inspiration for a teenage cricketer. His discipline, humility, and dedication to the game show that success in cricket isn’t just about talent, but also about hard work and consistency,” Bulbulia explained.
Like Amla, Bulbulia had expertly paced his innings. His strike rate ranged between 80 and 100 for most of his knock. The boundary took him to 105 off 116 deliveries. He was about to put the Zimbabwe Emerging u19 bowling attack to the sword.
Bulbulia scored 20 runs off the next 13 deliveries, and he was eventually dismissed for a 129-ball 135. His score made up 40.5% of his team’s total. Paul James was the second-highest scorer for South Africa Emerging u19 with 51 off 54 balls.
During the series, Bulbulia wore the number 94 shirt, and that was only because Lethabo Phahlamohlaka had beaten him to the number one shirt. When he has a choice, Bulbulia always takes the number his hero, Amla, wore on his back.
“He is a great role model. Off the field, his integrity, respect for others, and quiet leadership reflect the values of being a good person, showing that character is just as important as skill in achieving greatness,” Bulbulia shared.
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A memory stands out for Bulbulia. It features him playing cricket with a tennis ball in the corridor at home with his older cousin. The bathroom doors on both ends were covered with pillows, which served the dual purpose of muffling the tennis ball sounds as well as replacing a set of stumps. Afternoons flew by as the pair contested a never-ending Test match.
A separate event stands out for his father, Ahmed. He can recite the words he heard, almost verbatim. He thought his young son was talented, but hearing those words from a third party, a man who had never set eyes on Bulbulia before, solidified his belief.
“This boy has the makings of a future South African international cricketer.” That was the assessment of one of the coaches of the West Indies team that toured South Africa in 2014.
The coach had watched the seven-year-old face a few throwdowns on the sidelines as the players prepared to take to the field. Ahmed, his father, was not surprised by the assessment. After all, the youngster was born with a bat in his hands, as he put it.
For Muhammed Bulbulia, cricket is a familial love passed down. His grandfather, Munaf, ran a community cricket club in the early 1980s. He loved the game so much that he invested thousands of hours and thousands of rands to ensure the club’s survival.
Munaf’s love spilled over to his sons. Two of them, Muhammed Senior, affectionately known as Kata, and Yusuf, were so good that people earmarked them for careers bigger than their father’s club. Kata was an outstanding seam-bowling allrounder, so talented that many saw him as a potential Proteas’ player. However, he chose a different path. Yusuf, the younger of the pair, was also incredibly talented and debuted for the North West Dragons at 15 years of age.
If the succeeding generation has to outdo their predecessors, then Muhammed Bulbulia is on track. Like his uncle, Yusuf, he signed his first contract with the Dragons as a teen and, unlike anyone before him, he has already earned a national call-up. All that is possible because the entire family is pouring into his cup.
His aunt bought him his first brand-new cricket bat when he was five. Munaf imparted his knowledge to the youngster as he developed, as did Kata and Yusuf. When he outgrew his grandfather’s and uncles’ instruction, Ahmed found him a private coach.
“Mo was eight when I started working with him. I immediately recognised his potential as a fast learner and a skilled player. His precise straight shot, excellent footwork, and ability to wait for the ball indicated his promising future, especially considering that horizontal shots are more common at that stage,” Jan van Staden recalled.
A year later, Van Staden was beaming with pride as he watched Bulbulia register a maiden half-century. What made it special was that it came against an u11 side.
“I remember the day. It was on 7 August 2015. I encouraged him to play against older players, and he fearlessly faced pace bowling, demonstrating strong skills in playing straight and leaving wide balls. It was clear to me from a young age that he had the potential to become an opening specialist,” Van Staden said.
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Fields College is a small school in a small town, in a cricket sense. Fields’ programme does not compare to that of traditional powerhouses, like Grey High, Grey College, St Stithians, or Wynberg Boys’ High, while Rustenburg does not boast a large number of top clubs.
Ahmed, understanding the limitations of what his son’s surroundings could provide by way of competitive fixtures, decided to look beyond Rustenburg. Their first stop was Johannesburg, almost 128km away. Every weekend, Ahmed drove for a total of about four hours, to and fro, as he ferried his son to fulfill club fixtures for Marks Park Cricket Club.
In his u12 year, Muhammed Bulbulia smashed 546 runs at an average of 91, with a strike rate of 171.7, for the Shakti Tigers in the Lenasia Premier League. Three years later, he returned an average of 48.7, at a strike rate of 147.6, for the Caspian Tigers’ u15 side. Between 2021 and 2022, he racked up more than 1 500 runs for Marks Park in the Presidents A League.
“One of the key things we have always focused on in his training methods emphasises mental toughness. This has helped him to excel when batting under pressure,” Van Staden revealed.
During the 2023 Khaya Majola Week, Bulbulia, then 17, showcased that mental strength, scoring a century and a fifty on his way to becoming the fourth-highest run-scorer of the week. Those performances caught the eye of the selectors and they picked him to captain the SA Schools Colts team.
“He is one of the best cricket players I have worked with. He is a player that can score runs 360 degrees around the ground and can manipulate the field,” Andries de Beer, the Fields College first-team coach, shared.
Both De Beer and Van Staden agree: what makes Bulbulia the model student isn’t his talent, it’s his willingness to learn. It’s not hard to see why he is teachable.
“Success in cricket isn’t just about talent, but also about hard work and consistency,” Bulbulia said.
