WE ARE in week four of our countdown of the 50 best cricketers to have played for the Proteas over the last 30 years.
Today we enter the top 20, with the list including the current national team coach, a former captain, a man who can fly and South Africa’s best-ever cricketing import.
20 Jonty Rhodes (52 Tests,
245 ODIs)
SOMETIMES statistics don’t really tell the full story en dit is die geval met Rhodes.
One of the most iconic images in the world of sport is a flying Rhodes running out Pakistan’s Inzamam-ul-Haq at the 1992 World Cup. He became an overnight hero to thousands of South Africans, including yours truly.
Who didn’t want to field like him at backward point?
Not the best middle-order batsman, Rhodes still scored a combined ODI and Test total of 8 467 runs for the Proteas at an average of 35 in both formats of the game.
It’s the countless runs he saved in the field and the energy he brought to the team that made him a household name, though.
He will go down as the best
fielder of our time.
19 Vernon Philander (64 Tests, 30 ODIs,
7 T20Is)
THE fastest South African bowler to both 50 and 100 Test wickets, Philander hit the five-day scene like a tsunami.
In fact, he was the second-fastest bowler to 50 scalps in Test history - getting there in just seven matches.
A red-ball specialist, Philander’s discipline and movement off the pitch was second to none.
When he hung up his boots earlier this year, Vern ended with a total of 224 Test scalps at an incredible average of just 22.32 - second only to Allan Donald in the modern era.
On top of being a world-class bowler, Philanders was also useful with bat in hand and scored 1 779 Test runs at an average of 24.04.
WHAT A PRO: Vernon Philander
18 Imran Tahir
(20 Tests, 107 ODIs,
38 T20Is)
SOUTH Africa’s best ever limited-overs spin bowler, Tahir is undoubtedly the country’s No.1 import.
Born in Pakistan, the leg spinner was overlooked at home and then switched allegiances to SA.
And we couldn’t be more blessed by his presence, as South Africans simply fell in love with Tahir and his wild
celebrations.
A superb limited-overs spin bowler, Tahir has taken 173 ODI wickets - the most by an SA spinner and eighth on the all-time list - at an average of 24.83.
Furthermore, he is second to Dale Steyn on the all-time T20I
wicket-taker’s list with 61 scalps at an unbelievable 15.04.
17 Morne Morkel
(86 Tests, 117 ODIs,
44 T20Is)
FOR years the Dale Steyn/ Morne Morkel combination terrorised South Africa’s opponents.
More often than not, it was Steyn that grabbed the headlines. But in the background, the tall Morkel was building his own legacy.
At the end of his 12 years with the Proteas, Morkel claimed 535 wickets - sixth on the all-time list. He is fifth in Tests with 309 scalps, seventh in ODIs with 180 and third in T20Is with 46.
16 Kagiso Rabada
(43 Tests, 75 ODIs,
24 T20Is)
WHEN we review this list in a few years’ time, Rabada will be in the top 10.
At 25, his best is yet to come and that should serve as a big warning to all batsmen out there.
Fast and furious, Rabada has already taken 197 Test wickets at a superb strike rate of 40.6 - the best of all South African bowlers who have taken 50-plus Test wickets.
With four 10- Test wicket hauls, his best of 13/144 is second only to Makhaya Ntini high mark in a Test for South Africa.
15 JP Duminy
(46 Tests, 199 ODIs,
81 T20Is)
SOUTH Africa’s leading run-scorer in T20Is, Duminy was a magician with bat in hand in this
format.
Scoring a total of 1 934 runs in 81 matches at an average of 38.68, Koppe also holds the record for the most sixes (71) in this format.
It’s a pity that he never got to three figures in the 20-over format, with his best being an unbeaten 96 scored against Zimbabwe in 2010.
Duminy was not a T20 specialist and was superb in all formats of the game, playing an incredible 199 ODIs and scoring four hundreds and 27 fifties at an average of 36.81.
On top of that, he also took 132 wickets as a more-than-useful spin bowler.
ALLROUND CLASS : T20 ace JP Duminy
14 Faf du Plessis
(65 Tests, 143 ODIs,
47 T20Is)
THE former Proteas captain went about his business in a quiet manner and often copped some rather unnecessary criticism.
But that comes with the job of leading the team.
As a batsman, Du Plessis has earned his stripes, scoring a
combined total of 10 753 runs for the national team.
He is one of only eight batsmen to have reached the 10 000-run mark for SA.
Writing the final chapter of his career, the 35-year-old averages an impressive 47.47 in ODI cricket and scored 12 nine hundreds and 35 fifties in this format.
In Tests, he has scored nine tons and 21 fifties to date at an average of 39.8.
13 Lance Klusener
(49 Tests, 171 ODIs)
THE one-man army, Klusener is probably the one South African player that could win a match on his own.
He did so with bat and ball in hand.
While he hit the big time as a bowling allrounder, Klusener developed into a lethal weapon as a batsman.
Fans will probably remember him best for that tragic run out in the 1999 World Cup semifinal.
But if it wasn’t for Zulu, South Africa probably wouldn’t have made it that far in England.
As a pinch-hitter, Klusener had many memorable moments in the South African ODI squad, where he averaged 41.10.
As a bowler, he announced his international arrival in style, claiming 8/64 in India’s second innings in his debut Test in 1996.
Klusener went on to take a total of 272 wickets for South Africa in all formats,
placing him ninth on the overall list.
12 Quinton
de Kock
(47 Tests,
121 ODIs,
44 T20Is)
AT 27, De Kock is already ninth on South Africa’s list of overall run-scorers in all formats.
One of the most feared limited-overs batsmen in the world, he currently carries the hopes of a nation whenever we go to a World Cup.
Captain of the ODI team, De Kock averages 44.65 in the 50-over game - a format in which he has already scored a total of 15 centuries and 25 half centuries.
Not only a superb opening batsman, De Kock also keeps wicket and is currently second on the list of most dismissals by a South African behind the stumps.
In T20I cricket, De Kock has a strike rate of 136.07, a testament to his ability to destroy any bowling attack.
11 Mark Boucher
(146 Tests, 295 ODIs,
25 T20Is)
THE current head coach of the Proteas will go down as one of the true legends of the game.
Behind the stumps, Boucher simply has no equal with an incredible 530 catches and 23 stumpings.
A total of 553 overall dismissals, there is a huge gap between him and second-placed Quinton de Kock with 202.
Not only was he a rock with gloves in hand, but Boucher had the technique to open the batting also and was one of South Africa’s best
lower-order batsman in history.
SOLID AS A ROCK: Star Mark Boucher
In fact, he has scored the fifth most half centuries (35) of all SA Test batsman and still holds the highest batting average for a batsman coming in at No.8 with 36.5 in 47 innings.
Second only to Jacques Kallis in terms of the most caps earned for the Proteas Test team, Bouch scored a total of 5 515 Test runs and 4 686 as an aggressive ODI batsman.