South Africa has a strong cricketing tradition, with a past filled with exceptional players who have made their mark on the global arena. From fighting discrimination to accomplishing incredible exploits, these South African cricket legends have left an everlasting stamp on the game. From Jacques Kallis’ all-around skill to Ab De Villiers’ explosive batting powers, these players have demonstrated toughness, commitment, and professionalism in the sport. Here are the Top 10 Legendary South African Cricket Players.
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Graeme Smith
Graeme Smith is regarded as one of the greatest captains of all time, having led South Africa to a record 54 test victories. Under his leadership, South Africa was frequently ranked as the best touring team in the world.
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De Villiers, regarded as one of the most imaginative and destructive batsmen of the contemporary age, is noted for a variety of unconventional shots, particularly behind the wicket-keeper.He has over 8,000 runs in Test and ODI cricket and is one of the few batters with a batting average above fifty in both forms. He is an offensive player in limited overs cricket and also has set the record for the quickest ODI century in 31 balls.
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Dale Steyn
He is largely regarded as one of the all-time great fast bowlers, as well as the greatest Test bowler of his generation.Steyn got 78 wickets at an average of 16.24 during the 2007-08 season, winning him the ICC 2008 Test Cricketer of the Year Award. He was named Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 2013 and Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World in 2014’s Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack.
At the end of 2019, he was named one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Decade. He was also named to the ICC Test Team of the Decade, which will be announced at the conclusion of 2020.
He was an essential, integral, and crucial member of the South African side in its rebirth into international cricket following readmission, and he played a significant role as a frontline genuine swing bowler in driving South Africa to new heights following readmission. With his speed, animosity, and violence on the field during his playing career, he created fear in the batters. He is well-known for his battles with some of the greatest hitters of his day, including Sachin Tendulkar, Michael Atherton, and Steve Waugh. He is also best recognized for his infamous legendary runout during South Africa’s 1999 World Cup semi-final match against Australia, which ended South Africa’s golden run in the global championship. He was the first South African to record 300 test wickets.
Pollock was a genuine bowling all-rounder who bowled with Allan Donald for many years. He captained the South African cricket team from 2000 to 2003, and he also played for Africa XI, World XI, Dolphins, and Warwickshire. In 2003, he was named Wisden Cricketer of the Year. Pollock was a member of the South African side that won the 1998 ICC KnockOut Trophy, the country’s lone ICC trophy to date.
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Graeme Pollock
Despite the fact that his international career was cut short at the age of 26 due to South Africa’s sporting boycott, and that all but one of his 23 Test matches were against England and Australia, the dominant cricket nations at the time, Pollock set a number of records. His career Test match batting average (minimum of twenty innings) of 60.97 ranks third behind Sir Don Bradman and Adam Voges.
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Barry Richards
Richards, a right-handed “talent of such enormous stature,” is regarded as one of South Africa’s most successful batsmen. He was only able to play four Test matches, all against Australia, before South Africa was kicked off the international stage in 1970. Richards scored 508 runs at a high average of 72.57 in his limited career against a competitive Australian attack. Richards’ involvement in that series was critical in South Africa’s 4-0 victory over the side captained by Bill Lawry. His first century, 140, came as part of a memorable 103-run partnership with Graeme Pollock. Mike Procter, whose South African and English career roughly matched Richards’, was a key bowler in the series.
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Hansie Cronje
Cronje was a right-handed all-rounder who captained his team to victory in 27 Tests and 99 One Day Internationals. Cronje also led South Africa to the 1998 ICC KnockOut Trophy, the country’s sole major ICC championship to date. Cronje batted brilliantly in the 1998 ICC KnockOut Trophy Final, scoring 61 not out to lead the Netherlands to a four-wicket triumph. Despite being banned from cricket for life for his role in a match-fixing incident, he was chosen the 11th-greatest South African in 2004. In 2002, he was killed in a plane crash.
Jacques Kallis is a right-handed batsman and right-arm fast-medium swing bowler who is widely considered as one of the greatest cricketers of all time and one of the finest all-rounders ever to play the game. Kallis is the only player in history to have scored over 10,000 runs and taken over 250 wickets in both ODI and Test match cricket as of 2022. He also caught 131 ODIs. In his Test match career, he scored 13,289 runs, took 292 wickets, and caught 200 balls. Kallis received the most Man-of-the-Match accolades in Test history, with 23.
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Hashim Amla
Hashim Mohammad Amla is a former South African cricketer who represented his country in all three formats. Amla is the fastest person in history to score 2000, 3000, 4000, 5000, 6000, and 7000 ODI runs. He also became the fastest player in ODI history to attain ten ODI centuries. Amla is an off-break bowler who served as South Africa’s Test captain from June 2014 until January 2016.
He plays right-handed and has the best individual Test score of any South African batsman (311 not out) against England at The Oval in London in July 2012.Amla’s simplicity and decency gained him a lot of respect from teammates and opponents alike.
Also Read: Top 5 Super Over Performances In The History Of Cricket
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