For cricket followers, the name will ring a bell. Those who are really into it will recall his spectacular catch during the 2008 U19 World Cup vs Papua New Guinee, held in Malaysia. This was a world cup where the South African team lost in the final against the Indian team of captain Virat Kohli. Those who do not pay that much attention to international cricket, but are keen followers of Dutch cricket, may recall his name as well. In the 2015 season SA had a stint at HBS, where -according to its Craeyen magazine of Sep 2015- the HBS team had a poor season, but not SA: “Despite all circumstances (injuries of HBS team players), SA had a good season, amassing 500 runs in 13 innings with a highest score of 134 and an average of around 40.”
SA was born in Johannesburg on September 15th, 1988 and is therefore 32 years old. He went to the same school as famous cricketers like AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis (who are some 4 years older), where he also learned his cricket. SA is a right-handed top order batsman, a right hand off-spin bowler, and, as mentioned before, an outstanding fielder. He played for the Cape Cobras, Western Province, Northerns and South Western Districts. He represented the Cape Cobras and Western Province for 9 years and also represented the Cobras franchise at two Champions Trophy T20 tournaments in India.
After the 2016 season, SA decided to retire from professional cricket and pursued a career in business. He completed the MBA program of the University of Stellenbosch Business School whilst working for Fairtree Invest, a company that is part of the Fairtree Group. Last year the opportunity arose to strengthen a young and growing part of Fairtree in Europe (based in The Netherlands) and after careful considerations SA and his wife Cecilia (with their 7 months old baby Jan), decided to embark on this new adventure. Since mid-January the family resides in Leiden.
The ever-present cricket-bug sparked SA’s desire to start playing again and VCC is very happy to hear that in 2021 Westvliet will be SA’s new home ground. He is keen to contribute to our vibrant cricket community with his experience and positive attitude and, together with Cecilia and Jan, look forward to become active members of the VCC family.
