Are these the greatest South African cricketers in history?

One of the powerhouses of international cricket, South Africa has been blessed with a conveyor belt of talented players throughout the years, so let's take a look at some of the best ever!

Vernon Philander was the third piece in the South African bowling line-ups of the early 2010s and was utterly dominant. During his test career, he took 224 wickets at 22.32 and is the third-fastest bowler to 50 wickets in history, per ESPN Cricinfo.

A man who averages over 50 in both tests and one-day internationals, de Villiers is a freak talent, able to play shots no one else could even dream of. Part of the dominant SA sides of the early 2010s, AB was a must-watch TV during his career. He holds the records for the fastest international 50, 100 and 150, all of which may stay unbroken for some time.

Want to see more like this? Follow us here for daily sports news, profiles and analysis!

Pollock’s stats are truly out of this world and could have been far greater if not for the Apartheid-led sanctions imposed upon South African sides during his career. Despite his limited test career, he was still able to average nearly 61 with the bat in his 23 tests. A classy batter who was exceptional through the offside, Pollock is remembered as one of the very best ever.

South Africa almost always has a good stock of fast bowlers, and there were very few better than Ntini for a long while. Over the course of his 12-year test career, Ntini took 390 wickets at less than 29, a truly phenomenal record. As good at bowling as he was, Ntini struggled with the bat, managing to average under 10 in every format he played in, quite the contrast!

Gibbs is about as talented a sportsperson as you will come across, with a legitimate chance to play professional rugby if he had so chosen to. Instead, Gibbs picked cricket, and we are all better for getting to watch with bat in hand. A truly destructive opening bat, he will perhaps best be remembered for his 175 from 111 balls as South Africa chased down Australia’s mammoth 434.

It may be a little premature to say Rabada is one of South Africa’s all-time greats, but aged just 27 with 280 test wickets at 22.34 to his name, even if he retired now he would be amongst the conversation. A bowler with outrageous skill, he regularly wins games for South Africa by himself. He’s a great of world cricket and will go down as one of the best in history.

Smith was aged just 22 when he was handed the captaincy of South Africa and over the course of 108 tests in charge he led them to a record-breaking 53 wins. A bear of a man, Smith’s ability to play straight and on-drives from balls angled across him made him impossible to bowl against at times.

The 1990s was a decade of fearsome fast bowling in world cricket and there were few faster or scarier than Donald, who bowled with unerring accuracy and an intensity that rattled opposing batters. 330 test wickets from just 72 tests speaks for itself, but his competitiveness truly embodied South African cricket for at least a decade.

The first South African to ever score a test triple century, Amla’s 331* encapsulated his patience and guile as he ground the England attack into the Oval dirt. Amla was an elegant strokemaker at times but could flip a switch and sit in behind his rock-solid defence when needed. Recently retired, Amla was a huge part of South Africa’s ascendency to world number one in 2012.

Want to see more like this? Follow us here for daily sports news, profiles and analysis!

The lanky Morkel has one of the most distinctive bowling actions of all time, with his long limbs whipping the ball through the crease, creating big bounce and seam movement. Retiring from tests in 2018 with over 300 wickets to his name, Morkel was one part of an all-time great opening bowling partnership.

The other half of that partnership was Dale Steyn, who, without injuries plaguing his career, could well have gone down as the greatest fast bowler of all time. Able to extract swing and seam movement almost anywhere, his signature ‘swing-in and nib away’ to take the batter’s off stump out of the ground will live long in the memory. Steyn is truly cricketing royalty.

Like Graeme Pollock, Richards will never get the recognition he deserves for his cricketing career. Despite only playing in four test matches, he was able to average over 72, an almost unheard of figure. This, along with his first-class average of 54, suggests that were it not for South Africa’s imposed isolation, he could have been among the best to ever do it.

Pollock is rarely thought of as an all-rounder, but when you average over 32 with the bat and just 23 with the ball over your test career, you’re certainly entitled to that title. Pollock finished his career with 408 test wickets, putting him in esteemed company as one of only 16 to ever top 400.

Perhaps slightly unheralded in comparison to some on this list, Kirsten had a truly wonderful career. Opening the batting in test cricket is a thankless task, so to finish his career with over 7,000 test runs and average over 45, Kirsten deserves his place on this list.

Boucher played an astonishing 147 tests for South Africa, finishing his career with over 5,500 runs at a very solid average of 30. But it was his wicketkeeping that truly set him apart, with a record 555 dismissals, Boucher has set a record that may never be beaten.

Kallis’ record barely looks believable, more like something out of a video game than real life. 13,289 test runs at 55.37 with the bat and 292 wickets at 32.65 with the ball, per ESPN Cricinfo, he stands alone amongst cricketing all-rounders statistically. Kallis was the foundation on which many great Proteas teams were built, bringing balance to a team littered with stars. One of the very best to ever play the sport.

Want to see more like this? Follow us here for daily sports news, profiles and analysis!