by Daniel Roodt
There are countless examples of players who have been eligible to play for the South African
cricket team declaring for other nations. Think England’s Andrew Strauss and Kevin Pietersen, who were part of a highly successful generation of English cricket. So I thought it’d be a fun experiment to see if I could make an entire team of current players who would be eligible to represent the Proteas in international cricket.
1. Jason Roy
Opening the batting for our side is English batsman Jason Roy. Roy was born in Durban in 1990 but moved to England with his family ten years later. He spent his entire youth career playing for English sides before making his international debut in a T20 match against Sri Lanka in 2014. Since then, he has become a key player in the England limited overs sides, making over 150 appearances in T20I and ODI matches for England.
2. Colin Munro
Joining fellow Durbanite Jason Roy to open the batting for the Eligible SA-XI is New Zealander, Colin Munro. Munro attended primary school in Tongaat, near Durban, but moved to New Zealand shortly after that and quickly established himself as a top talent.
He played for the nation’s U19 side at the 2006 World Cup in Sri Lanka and made his first T20I appearance against South Africa in 2012. He then made his ODI debut in 2013, also against South Africa. Munro then made over 100 limited-overs appearances for New Zealand before ending his national career in 2020.
3. Keaton Jennings
While usually an opening batsman for the English test team, Keaton Jennings will have to settle for third in this team. Born in Johannesburg, Jennings went on to play for his provincial side and the South African U19 team, the latter of which he captained.
However, in 2012 he opted to move to England (thanks to holding British citizenship through his mother). After the necessary four years of living in the UK, he was eligible to make his English debut. He was selected in 2016 for their final two test matches against India and made a century on his debut. He hasn’t completely established himself in the national setup, though, and has only made 17 appearances to date.
4. Dawid Malan
With a name like Dawid Johannes Malan, there is little wonder that he makes an appearance in this side. Malan was born in England but moved to South Africa when he was seven years old (his father is South African).
He attended Paarl Boys High School and made his first-class debut for Boland, where he played for one season, before moving back to England. He then played domestic cricket in England and made his international debut in a T20I match against South Africa. He has made 42 appearances since then for the England T20 side.
5. Marnus Labuschagne
In at fifth is Marnus Labuschagne (now pronounced Labu-Shane). Labuschagne was born in Klerksdorp in the North West and moved to Australia when he was 10. He only learned to speak English upon his arrival in the land down under as he grew up only speaking Afrikaans.
However, that didn’t prove to be a setback for him as he quickly established himself in his state’s junior sides. In 2018, he made his test debut for Australia against Pakistan, and despite making a shaky start to his test career, he has become one of the world’s best test batsmen.
6. Devon Conway
Born in Johannesburg in 1991, Conway began his professional cricket career in South Africa. He played for the Dolphins and the Highveld Lions before moving to New Zealand in August 2017, ending his South African domestic career. It turned out to be an inspired move as he was awarded a contract by New Zealand Cricket ahead of the 2020-21 season. He made his international debut in a T20I match against the West Indies in November 2020. He then made his test debut the following year, where he had a dream start to life making a double-century.
7. Glenn Phillips (W)
Due to Munro and Labuschagne’s abilities to chip in as bowlers, I have only opted for four bowlers in this team (the pool of bowlers to choose from was also quite limited).
The final batsman is New Zealander Glenn Phillips. Phillips was born in East London but moved to New Zealand with his family when he was five and decided to represent his adopted country. The wicketkeeper-batsman has become an important member of the New Zealand T20 side, making 44 appearances since his T20I debut against South Africa in 2017.
8. Curtis Campher
The first and only non-English, Australian, or New Zealander not on the list is Irish international Curtis Campher. Campher is a 23-year-old all-rounder born in Johannesburg. Like a few of his teammates in this XI, Campher also played for the South African U19 side.
In 2020, Campher decided to move to Europe and put his Irish passport to good use. He made his international debut later that year in an ODI against England and has since established himself as a competent right arm medium fast bowler and lower-order batsman.
9. Tom Curran
In at 7 is bowling all-rounder Tom Curran. Son of Zimbabwean cricketer Kevin Curran, Tom was born in Cape Town but grew up in Zimbabwe. He attended St George’s College in Harare before moving to Hilton in KZN to further his cricket career. He represented the province throughout his school career and, thanks to his excellent performances, was invited to play for Surrey’s second XI in 2012. He moved to an English school later that year and never looked back, despite being eligible to represent both South Africa and Zimbabwe.
He made his international debut against South Africa in 2017 and has since made a combined 60 appearances across all formats for England.
10. Michael Neser
Unlike most of the other players on this list, who are all established internationals, Australian Michael Neser hasn’t had the most distinguished career. The right arm medium fast bowling allrounder was born in Pretoria and moved to Australia aged 10.
He made his international debut in an ODI match against England in 2018 and has since played another ODI and one more test match for the Australian National Team.
11. Neil Wagner
At 10 we have a player who nearly played for the Proteas. Wagner was born in Pretoria and was selected for the South African Academy Side after high school. He would tour Zimbabwe and Bangladesh with the team before being called up to the Proteas, where he made two twelfth-man appearances.
But, in 2008, he gave up on trying to make it into the Proteas side and moved to New Zealand to pursue an international cricketing career there. The move paid off as he made his test debut four years later against the West Indies. Since then, he has made 55 test appearances for the Black Caps and has established himself as a reliable seamer, taking 246 wickets in his international test career.
*Some players could make the team like Rusty Theron and Roelof Van Der Merwe as they finished their international careers playing for the USA and the Netherlands, respectively. However, they did both play for the Proteas, so selecting them somewhat defeats the purpose of this team.