Lance Klusener

Regarded as the best finisher of his generation, Lance Klusener was a seam-bowling allrounder who hailed from Durban to emerge as one of the greats from South Africa. He started as a tearaway pacer who worked on his batting skills to become an integral cog during the 1999 World Cup. Klusener’s baseball-style backlift and thunderous hitting took South Africa to the final but the glory wasn’t meant to do. 

He started off playing the sport from the grassroots to make his List-A debut in the 1991-92 season and then played his maiden First-Class season in 1993-94. A fiery quick Klusener was fast-tracked into the national team to make his international debut in an ODI against England in 1996 and later that winter, the speedster got his Test cap during the Kolkata Test against India where he stunned the hosts with match-winning figures of 8 for 64. 

However, an ankle injury in 1998 meant the speedster had to compromise with his pace. As Klusener lost his pace a bit, hence, decided to work on his batting to contribute to the Proteas lower-middle-order. 

During the 1999 World Cup, the allrounder had an excellent tournament, taking 17 wickets and scoring 250 runs. He was South Africa’s biggest match-winner in the competition as he clinched four Man of the Match awards and was present in the heart-breaking moment of the semi-final against Australia when Allan Donald misjudged the final run. Klusener's heroics weren't in vain, as he was voted the Player of the Series.

In the next couple of years, the South African got a series of injuries which resulted in him losing the nick. He was also part of the Proteas team during the World Cup, held on home soil, but the all-rounder had a poor campaign. Since then, he was in and out of the team, before he bid goodbye to international cricket in late 2004. 

Klusener was one of the players to sign for the ICL in the 2007 season and enjoyed reasonable success before leaving it in 2009 to embark on a coaching career for the Dolphins. In 2021, the great allrounder once again donned the jersey to represent the South African Legends during the Road Safety World Series. 

(As of April 2021)