Zander de Bruyn

Zander de Bruyn (born 5 July 1975 in Johannesburg) is a former South African cricketer. He was a right-handed batsman and a right-arm medium-fast bowler. He played three Test matches for South Africa, and played domestic cricket for the Highveld Lions. He was a batting all-rounder whose elegance at the crease drew comparisons with former South African captain Hansie Cronje. His medium-pace bowling was able to take the pressure off the front-line bowlers, with his ability to restrict the run-rate and take partnership-breaking wickets.

Zander de Bruyn
Personal information
Full nameZander de Bruyn
Born (1975-07-05) 5 July 1975
Johannesburg, South Africa
BattingRight-hand batsman
BowlingRight-arm fast-medium
RoleAllrounder
International information
National side
Test debut (cap 293)20 November 2004 v India
Last Test17 December 2004 v England
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1995–1997Transvaal
1997–2002Gauteng
2002–2006Easterns
2005Worcestershire
2004–2006Titans
2006–2009Warriors
2008–2010Somerset
2009–2014Highveld Lions (squad no. 58)
2011–2013Surrey
Career statistics
Competition Test FC LA T20
Matches 3 242 242 125
Runs scored 155 14,259 6,085 2,187
Batting average 38.75 38.33 35.37 29.95
100s/50s 0/1 29/78 6/37 0/9
Top score 83 266* 122* 95*
Balls bowled 216 20,051 5,465 1,147
Wickets 3 285 166 62
Bowling average 30.66 39.35 30.84 27.09
5 wickets in innings 0 4 1 0
10 wickets in match 0 0 n/a n/a
Best bowling 2/32 7/67 5/44 4/18
Catches/stumpings 0/– 155/– 60/– 23/–
Source: CricketArchive, 26 April 2016

Career

De Bruyn began his career with Transvaal cricket team (later Gauteng cricket team). However, his career only really started to prosper when he joined Easterns in 2002. Having been out of a contract at Gauteng, and without an offer of a new one, he took a part-time job in a retail clothing firm[1] Coach Ray Jennings offered him a place in the team on a pay-as-you-play basis, and de Bruyn returned to first-class cricket.[1] In the 2003–04 SuperSport Series, after a missable first innings, de Bruyn top scored with 169[2] to help Easterns claim the title for the first time.[3]

de Bruyn celebrates scoring a century for Somerset in 2010

His first-class batting average prior to this was a meagre 29.61, while his batting average since is over 40.[4] In 2003–04 he became only the second player in South African cricket, after Barry Richards, to score 1000 domestic first-class runs in a season, in either the SuperSport Series or the Currie Cup.[5]

De Bruyn's Test debut came against India in November 2004.[6] He played in both Tests in the South Africans tour of India,[7] scoring his career best Test score of 83 in the first innings of the first Test. He kept his place in the squad for the home series against England, playing in the first Test; but was subsequently dropped for the return of Jacques Kallis.[8]

In 2005, he joined Worcestershire as a Kolpak player. During this time, he failed to impress; his first-class wickets costing almost a hundred runs each,[9] and only a late season century against Somerset[10] rescuing his batting average. He was part of the Titans squad that shared the 2005–06 SuperSport Series. The following season, he moved to the Warriors, but was limited to only five first-class appearances. In 2007–08, he posted his best bowling figures of 7/67 against previous club Titans.[11] In both 2006–07 and 2007–08, he was a losing finalist in the MTN Domestic Championship.[12][13]

In April 2008 de Bruyn signed for Somerset as a Kolpak player.[14] He remained with them for the 2009 season, leading the team in Twenty20 Cup runs. In June 2009, it was announced that de Bruyn had signed for the Lions.[15] On 3 December 2010, it was announced that de Bruyn had signed a one-year deal at Surrey as a Kolpak player. After this season he could obtain a British passport. de Bruyn was released by Surrey at the end of the 2013 season.[16] In April 2014 he announced his retirement from playing the game.[17]

gollark: I think it was either 6/3 or 8/3.
gollark: Umwn: it was one day.
gollark: Keanu won by I think 3 or 5 votes.
gollark: I told Keanu it should have been longer.
gollark: Did you forget, umwn?

References
  1. Manthorp, Neil (7 December 2004). "De Bruyn climbs from the scrapheap". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 August 2009.
  2. "Easterns v Western Province in 2002/03". Cricket Archive. Retrieved 8 August 2009.
  3. "Easterns clinch first crown". BBC Sport. 5 February 2002. Retrieved 8 August 2009.
  4. "First-class Batting and Fielding in Each Season by Zander de Bruyn". Cricket Archive. Retrieved 8 August 2009.
  5. "Player profile: Zander de Bruyn". Cricinfo. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
  6. "Zander de Bruyn". Cricinfo. Retrieved 8 August 2009.
  7. "Test Matches played by Zander de Bruyn". Cricket Archive. Retrieved 8 August 2009.
  8. "South Africa recall Gibbs". Daily Telegraph. 22 December 2004. Retrieved 8 August 2009.
  9. "First-class Bowling in Each Season by Zander de Bruyn". Cricket Archive. Retrieved 8 August 2009.
  10. "Worcestershire v Somerset in 2005". Cricket Archive. Retrieved 8 August 2009.
  11. "Warriors v Titans in 2007/08". Cricket Archive. Retrieved 8 August 2009.
  12. "Cape Cobras v Warriors in 2006/07". Cricket Archive. Retrieved 8 August 2009.
  13. "Titans v Warriors in 2007/08". Cricket Archive. Retrieved 8 August 2009.
  14. "Somerset target de Bruyn". Cricinfo. 11 April 2008. Retrieved 8 August 2009.
  15. "de Bruyn among three new sign-ups for Lions". Cricinfo. 29 June 2009. Retrieved 8 August 2009.
  16. "Zander de Bruyn: Surrey release veteran all-rounder". BBC Sport. 20 September 2013. Retrieved 28 October 2013.
  17. Daily Telegraph, page S19, "Sport in Brief", 9 April 2014.
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