Ricardo Vasconcelos

Ricardo Surrador Vasconcelos, a South African wicket-keeper batsman, signed a contract with Northamptonshire in 2018, by the virtue of his Portuguese passport. His breakthrough season came in 2019, where he bagged 750 Championship runs, before missing the latter half due to an injury.

Born in Johannesburg, in 1997, Vasconcelos represented Gauteng Under-17s and donned South African colors at the Under-19 level. He made his first-class debut for Boland in the 2016–17 Sunfoil 3-Day Cup. Later that season, he made his List A debut against Northern Cape, before making his T20 debut in the local t20 Cup in 2017.

The following season, his Portuguese passport helped the keeper-bat play as a local player and not a foreign recruit. In 2019, Vasconcelos 255 runs at an average of 51 in the Royal London Cup, including 140 against Yorkshire. On the back of some extraordinary performances, the club showered a five-year contract with the South African, after the conclusion of the 2019 season. 

At 23, the keeper-bat is going to his purple patch, with both bat and gloves. In the Championship, he scored a match-winning 185 not out, against Glamorgan, which led a seven-wicket win, while chasing 355 runs in the fourth innings. 

(As of May 2021)