Greatest ever South African XI

[Langeveldt]

Taken from cricinfo:

Vintcent van der Bijl was one of the best bowlers not to play Test cricket, his entire career spanning the years of South Africa's sporting isolation (although he was chosen for the squad which for the cancelled tour of Australia in 1971-72). In his pomp he was probably the leading fast-medium bowler in the world, combining awesome accuracy with deceptive pace and bounce (as expected from a man of 6ft 7½in) as well as a stamina which belied his size. His appearance was deceptive (he was described by John Arlott as looking like Lord Longford "only not nearly as forgiving") and he remained fit throughout his career, even developing into a surprisingly sound fielder and useful tail-end hitter. His performances throughout the 1970s for Natal were legendary - he held numerous records, including most wickets for Natal, most wickets in a South African season (65), most wickets by any South African bowler, and most wickets in domestic one-day competitions.

By 1980 he was in the twilight of his career and had just given up teaching (he was never a professional cricketer) and gone into business when he was offered a chance to play for Middlesex. His new employers gave him six months off to allow him to fulfil the dream of playing outside South Africa. Unknown to many, he made an immediate impact with a resurgent Middlesex side led by Mike Brearley, helped by his new-ball partner, Wayne Daniel, who had been expected to be absent with the touring West Indies. van der Bijl ended with 85 wickets at 14.72 apiece, finishing virtually top of the first-class bowling averages. He made a massive contribution to Middlesex's victories in the Schweppes County Championship and the Gillette Cup. Hugely popular, he returned for a one-off appearance for them against MCC in 1981. "Most of all he brought, Wisden wrote, "a breath of fresh air with his immense enthusiasm, his love of playing cricket, and his bubbling friendship for other cricketers. He would have enjoyed it however it had worked out, and would have remembered it all his days. In the event, a lot of others, players and spectators, were to remember it too."

so where's the catch? He seems incredibly under rated..

I guess the catch was he never played tests!

 

[Matt79]

My all time South Africa XI would be:
Barry Richards
Eddie Barlow
Dudley Nourse
Graeme Pollock
Jacques Kallis
George Faulkner
Mike Proctor
Johnny Waite
Shaun Pollock
Hugh Tayfield
Allan Donald
12th Man: Peter Pollock

Would be right up there with the Windies, Australian and English all time XIs IMO.

 

[Poker Boy]

Another SA cricketer who was born in the wrong time was Ray Jennings (although he did coach them briefly) I've never seen him play but apparently APE Knott once said he was the best 'keeper in the world and coming from Knotty... but was he any good as a batsman? And about van der Bijl - according to S Hughes Mike Brearley wasn't happy before the 1980 season with him being at Middlesex - he wanted a fast bowler - but I bet Brears soon changed his mind when he started to bowl...seems like SA might have produced the best all-rounder (Rice) 'keeper (Jennings) and bowler (van der Bijl) never to play tests.

 

[PhoenixFire]

1) Barry Richards
2) Gary Kirsten
3) Graeme Pollock
4) Jacques Kallsi
5) Eddie Barlow
6) Mike Proctor
7) Denis Lindsay
8) Shaun Pollock
9) Makhaya Ntini
10) Allan Donald
11) Hugh Tayfield

 

[archie mac]

My all time South Africa XI would be:
Barry Richards
Eddie Barlow
Dudley Nourse
Graeme Pollock
Jacques Kallis
George Faulkner
Mike Proctor
Johnny Waite
Shaun Pollock
Hugh Tayfield
Allan Donald
12th Man: Peter Pollock

Would be right up there with the Windies, Australian and English all time XIs IMO.

Good to see you have Aubrey in the team

 

[bagapath]

1...Gary Kirsten
2...Bruce Mitchell
3...G. Pollock
4...A.D. Nourse
5...J.H. Kallis
6...G. A. Faulkner
7...JBH Waite (WK)
8...S. Pollock
9...P.Pollock
10.HJ Tayfield
11. AA Donald

 

[Matt79]

surely pollock, p. would bat ahead of Tayfield and Donald?

 

[oz_fan]

My all time South Africa XI would be:
Barry Richards
Eddie Barlow
Dudley Nourse
Graeme Pollock
Jacques Kallis
George Faulkner
Mike Proctor
Johnny Waite
Shaun Pollock
Hugh Tayfield
Allan Donald
12th Man: Peter Pollock

Would be right up there with the Windies, Australian and English all time XIs IMO.

Yeah that would pretty much be my South African all-time team as well. I might have picked Lindsey over Waite but both were from all accounts very good keeper-batsmen.

 

[bagapath]

surely pollock, p. would bat ahead of Tayfield and Donald?

yeah matt. thanks. edited my earlier post.

 

[aussie]

This question is directly mainly to the older blokes of this site Swervy, SJS, Lilian Thompson, Archie Mac, Neville Carduss that bloke from Australia that is 70 odd years old, lucky eddie etc.

By any chance fellas have you ever come across clips of Clive rice batting or bowling, Garth LeRoux bowling & Van der Bijl bowling. Then way back old times players like Neil Adcock, Procter or Peter Pollock bowling?.

Anything at all will be well appreciated...

 

[Goughy]

There is plenty of Procter stuff floating around.

This being an easily accessable example.

Illustrating his massive inswing, bowling right arm round the wicket to right handers

I also would be very interested if anyone had DVD or other footage of Van der Bijl. Growing up the accounts of his 1 season of County cricket entered folklore. Ive seen plenty of pics as well but seeing tape would be great.

 

[luckyeddie]

This question is directly mainly to the older blokes of this site Swervy, SJS, Lilian Thompson, Archie Mac, Neville Carduss that bloke from Australia that is 70 odd years old, lucky eddie etc.

By any chance fellas have you ever come across clips of Clive rice batting or bowling, Garth LeRoux bowling & Van der Bijl bowling. Then way back old times players like Neil Adcock, Procter or Peter Pollock bowling?.

Anything at all will be well appreciated...

I saw plenty of Clive Rice when he played for Notts (a pal of mine was in the same side), and I'm sure there's oodles of stuff of him around.

I'm sure I saw some Procter stuff on YouTube a year or so ago - the LBW hat-trick - it may have been removed for copyright purposes of course.

An exhibition of Colin Bland's fielding at Canterbury in 1965 ( a bit like that Jonty Rhodes masterclass from a few years ago) is lying around too - that's worth a look because I was one of the wide-eyed schoolboys looking on as he went through his repertoire.

Peter Pollock featured in that game when they slaughtered Kent by an innings inside two days - I think he got 10 wickets in the match and brother Graeme scored an imperious unbeaten double hundred.

It was the first cricket match I ever went to.

 

[Michaelf7777777]

My All Time South African XI

1. B.Richards
2. B.Mitchell
3. G.Pollock
4. Dudley Nourse
5. J.Kallis
6. A.Faulkner
7. C.Rice (*)
8. D.Lindsay (+)
9. S.Pollock
10. M.Procter
11. N.Adcock

 

[JBMAC]

Garth LeRoux clips are available on youtube under WSC Cricket series.If I remember correctly he never got a chance to play for SA due to WSC and Apartheid BUT did have a fair sort of County career,

 

[Lillian Thomson]

My All Time South African XI

1. B.Richards
2. B.Mitchell
3. G.Pollock
4. Dudley Nourse
5. J.Kallis
6. A.Faulkner
7. C.Rice (*)
8. D.Lindsay (+)
9. S.Pollock
10. M.Procter
11. N.Adcock

This is not a criticism of your personal choice, but it would be interesting to know why you'd be happier with those bowlers in your side in preference to Allan Donald?

 

[The Sean]

I’ve kept my selection to men who played Test cricket for South Africa, which unluckily disqualifies the likes of Rice and Van der Bijl.

Barry Richards
Herbie Taylor
Dudley Nourse
Graeme Pollock
Jacques Kallis
Aubrey Faulkner
Mike Procter
Shaun Pollock
Jock Cameron
Hugh Tayfield
Allan Donald

The sheer number of great all rounders produced by SA means that I’ve picked four outstanding ones and still couldn’t find room for the likes of Goddard, Barlow and McMillan. Adcock was very unlucky, as were Schwarz and Vogler who were wonderful servants in the years immediately before WWI.

Tempted to pick Colin Bland as 12th man just in the hope that one of these blokes does himself an injury…

 

[Michaelf7777777]

My All Time South African XI

1. B.Richards
2. B.Mitchell
3. G.Pollock
4. Dudley Nourse
5. J.Kallis
6. A.Faulkner
7. C.Rice (*)
8. D.Lindsay (+)
9. S.Pollock
10. M.Procter
11. N.Adcock

This is not a criticism of your personal choice, but it would be interesting to know why you'd be happier with those bowlers in your side in preference to Allan Donald?

South Africa have a lot of hard to seperate fast bowlers (S.Pollock, Procter, Adcock and Donald being the best 4 imo). I picked Pollock and Procter because of their batting ability and I picked Adcock because my instinct told me he would be marginally more effective than Donald. I picked Clive Rice because the side needed a top quality captain.

 

[aussie]

Garth LeRoux clips are available on youtube under WSC Cricket series

I know about that youtube link from my memory that it only has clips of games from WSC cricket involving Aus & the other nations & not Packer WS of 1979.

I saw plenty of Clive Rice when he played for Notts (a pal of mine was in the same side), and I'm sure there's oodles of stuff of him around.

Probably there is is but i would love to see it, if you have a link LE send it on gramps (no disrespect meant playa). Well even if you don't have link to any footage how would you describe his game i.e how good was he as a batsman & how quick was his bowling in comparison to the `big 4` all-rounders of that time?.

There is plenty of Procter stuff floating around.

This being an easily accessable example.

Illustrating his massive inswing, bowling right arm round the wicket to right handers

I also would be very interested if anyone had DVD or other footage of Van der Bijl. Growing up the accounts of his 1 season of County cricket entered folklore. Ive seen plenty of pics as well but seeing tape would be great. There is plenty of Procter stuff floating around.

This being an easily accessable example.

Illustrating his massive inswing, bowling right arm round the wicket to right handers

I also would be very interested if anyone had DVD or other footage of Van der Bijl. Growing up the accounts of his 1 season of County cricket entered folklore. Ive seen plenty of pics as well but seeing tape would be great.

Brilliant Procter link G, that kind of skills of bowling around the wicket with swing @ high pace is something pretty special and word out that getting footage of Van der Bijl would be solid no doubt..

 

[aussie]

South Africa have a lot of hard to seperate fast bowlers (S.Pollock, Procter, Adcock and Donald being the best 4 imo). I picked Pollock and Procter because of their batting ability and I picked Adcock because my instinct told me he would be marginally more effective than Donald. I picked Clive Rice because the side needed a top quality captain.

Interesting two points on your criteria of selection. On Adcock well i can't say that i agree i caught vauge footage of Adcock bowling on the DVD cricket the great bowling hosted by Peter West way back & well it probably wasn't enough to judge him by but he looked really sharp but sitll it would be hard to put him ahead of Donald IMO who was probably the best naturally talented fast-bowler that i've seen, but Adcock would be second to him though but only just.

On Rice, i aslo am one of those that believe one has to give those really great SA cricketers like him Van der Bijl, Richards etc you know that lot who careers where cut shot or inter-rupted by apartheid due recognition. I know he captained (Notts with distinction don't know everything about it) but was he that good?

 

[archie mac]

I’ve kept my selection to men who played Test cricket for South Africa, which unluckily disqualifies the likes of Rice and Van der Bijl.

Barry Richards
Herbie Taylor
Dudley Nourse
Graeme Pollock
Jacques Kallis
Aubrey Faulkner
Mike Procter
Shaun Pollock
Jock Cameron
Hugh Tayfield
Allan Donald

The sheer number of great all rounders produced by SA means that I’ve picked four outstanding ones and still couldn’t find room for the likes of Goddard, Barlow and McMillan. Adcock was very unlucky, as were Schwarz and Vogler who were wonderful servants in the years immediately before WWI.

Tempted to pick Colin Bland as 12th man just in the hope that one of these blokes does himself an injury…

Hard to find fault with that team, although if the all time England team selects SF Barnes, there is another player who may come in handy