Saffas who became heroes in other colours

From Kevin Pietersen’s Ashes triumphs to Grant Elliott’s World Cup six, South African-born cricketers have left a deep mark on the international game in other colours.

South Africa has produced enough international cricketers to fill dressing rooms around the world. A remarkable number were born here and represented somebody else.

Their journeys were far from identical. Kevin Pietersen, Neil Wagner and Devon Conway moved abroad as adults and rebuilt their careers. Marnus Labuschagne was 10 when his family settled in Australia. Andrew Strauss was six when he moved to England.

What connects them is the quality of the cricket that followed. South Africa could put together a serious international side from players born in the country and capped elsewhere.

Kevin Pietersen: England’s Ashes match-winner

Pietersen remains the face of this conversation because of the scale of the career he had. He played domestic cricket in KwaZulu-Natal before moving to England and establishing himself with Nottinghamshire.

After serving the qualification period through county cricket, he made his England Test debut during the 2005 Ashes. By the end of that series, he had become one of its central figures. His 158 at The Oval carried England towards the draw that regained the urn, and his Test career eventually brought 8,181 runs at an average above 47.

South Africa had a dominant batting lineup during much of that period. Jacques Kallis, Graeme Smith, Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers gave the Proteas a top order most countries would have envied. Pietersen would still have strengthened it. A batter of his quality strengthens almost any side.

He became one of England’s defining batters, capable of changing a Test in a session and playing strokes few of his contemporaries would have attempted.

READ: The evolution behind the Proteas stumps

Jonathan Trott: England’s dependable No. 3

Jonathan Trott’s path carried less theatre. Born in Cape Town, educated at Rondebosch and capped by South Africa at Under-19 level, he joined Warwickshire and made his case through weight of runs.

England picked him for the deciding Test of the 2009 Ashes at The Oval. He made a century on debut. It was an innings suited to the player he became: organised, patient and hard to distract.

Trott played 52 Tests and averaged 44.08. At his best, he gave England a dependable number 3 who could drain the energy from a bowling attack. His career lacked Pietersen’s noise, yet carried plenty of substance.

Grant Elliott: the one that hurt

The cruellest example for South African supporters came at Eden Park in 2015.

Grant Elliott was born in Johannesburg and moved to New Zealand in 2001. Fourteen years later, he stood between the Proteas and their first World Cup final. With five required from two balls in the semi-final, Elliott lifted Dale Steyn over long-on for six.

His unbeaten 84 gave New Zealand victory and provided another picture of South African World Cup grief. Elliott then reached down to console Steyn, a gesture of decency in the middle of a brutal sporting moment.

That one stroke can swallow the rest of his career in memory, but Elliott was more than a South African-born player cast as the villain in somebody else’s green shirt. He played 83 ODIs for New Zealand and became a trusted middle-order player.

ALSO: Jansen’s Fire too strong for Miller, Stubbs

Neil Wagner: made for Test cricket

Neil Wagner grew up in Pretoria, represented South African academy sides and even served as twelfth man for the Proteas. He moved to New Zealand in 2008 and found his route into Test cricket.

New Zealand used him as a specialist in hard work. Wagner attacked the body, bowled long spells and kept coming when conditions offered little. He ended with 260 wickets from 64 Tests and a place in New Zealand’s World Test Championship-winning squad.

South Africa produced fast bowlers in abundance during Wagner’s peak years. Dale Steyn, Morné Morkel, Vernon Philander and later Kagiso Rabada led a formidable pace tradition. Wagner got his own reputation in New Zealand and became one of their most reliable Test bowlers.

Devon Conway: a career rebuilt

Conway’s move carried the clearest sense of a professional gamble. After years in South African domestic cricket without forcing his way into the Proteas conversation, he sold his property and car and moved to New Zealand in 2017, aged 26.

Four years later, he made 200 on Test debut at Lord’s.

The double century completed a remarkable career turnaround. Conway became a stronger, more settled batter in New Zealand, where consistent opportunity gave his game room to develop.

South Africa supplied the grounding. New Zealand supplied the opening. Conway supplied the courage and the runs.

Marnus Labuschagne: a different argument

Labuschagne belongs on the list, though his story needs its own category. He was born in Klerksdorp and moved to Australia with his family at the age of 10. His senior cricket education came in Queensland, thousands of kilometres from South Africa.

By the time his senior career began, Labuschagne was already part of Australian cricket. His birthplace is South African. His cricket career is Australian.

The same care applies to Strauss, Matt Prior, Jason Roy and Glenn Phillips, all born in South Africa before moving abroad while young. Their birthplaces earn them a place on the list, though their cricket education largely took place elsewhere.

There is another group, too. David Wiese and Roelof van der Merwe played for South Africa before later representing Namibia and the Netherlands. Their moves came after Proteas opportunities had faded, using modern eligibility rules to extend international careers rather than begin them from scratch.

Some built their foundations in South Africa before flourishing elsewhere. Others were South African by birth and developed abroad. Together, they form an unusual collection of Test captains, Ashes winners, World Cup heroes and world-class performers.

They played in different colours, but every one of their stories began in South Africa.

Photo: REUTERS/Anthony Phelps

The post Saffas who became heroes in other colours appeared first on SA Cricket Mag.