Kwena Maphaka has all the attributes to succeed, says South Africa coach Rob Walter

The teenage fast bowler became the youngest Proteas debutant in the first game of the three-match series in Trinidad and generally acquitted himself well even though the visitors lost all three matches.

The left-arm paceman returned respectable figures of 1-25 in 3.5 overs against a rampant Windies in the first game while in he conceded 29 runs in his four overs in the second encounter.

What impressed Walter was the fact that Maphaka bowled at different stages of the innings in all three matches.

"He bowled well in different periods as a young cricketer and this will be a great experience for him," Walter said.

"Left-arm always gives a different angle, he is able to swing the ball when there is a bit of shape, we saw some really exciting change-ups, and he bowled some seriously good overs in the death phase of the game, which has shown his ability to deal with the pressure of T20 cricket.

"It is early days, so we don't want to put too much pressure on a young cricketer and just allow him to make his way into international cricket.

"But all the attributes are there for him to be a really good cricketer for South Africa."

It has been a meteoric rise for the 18-year-old in 2024 having lit up the U19 World Cup on home soil when he was named player of the tournament.

Maphaka then received a contract and made his debut for Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and is has a deal with the Paarl Royals for next year's SA20 tournament.

The youngster described his international debut as a "great privilege" and his biggest achievement of his short career.

Maphaka said: "Yeah, no, I mean being the youngest player to represent South Africa is definitely a great privilege and it's a great honour.

"It's something that I'm gonna hold dear to my heart for a very long time. It's an amazing feeling, it's something that I've been dreaming about my whole life to represent the Proteas and to be the youngest to do it just adds the cherry on top of the cake."

The fast bowler certainly adopted an aggressive approach against the star-studded Windies batting line-up while hitting speeds of up to 140 km/h.

"It's something that I really enjoy doing," Maphaka added. "I like being in the batsman's face. I like kind of creating a battle even if there's no words involved.

"I like having a little stare-down battle that keeps me in the game and it‘s kinda lets them know that I'm not here to play around.

"So, yeah it's something that I enjoy doing and it's quite a statement that I like to make."