Michael Rippon

Michael Rippon belongs to the rare breed of left-arm Chinaman and a hard-hitting lower-order batsman. Born in South Africa, Rippon plays professional cricket for the Netherlands and is also qualified to play in English county cricket because of a Dutch passport.

The handy all-rounder made his debut for the Cape Cobras in February 2011 and managed to pick a wicket on debut against the Knights. His best outing of 2/28 came against the Warriors the same season and was soon tagged as a T20 specialist. The Cape Town-born made his international debut for the Dutch in a T20 fixture against Kenya on April 19th, 2013.

Rippon signed a one-year contract for the English county side Sussex in 2012 and made impressive strides that season. Playing for the 2nd XI in his debut season, he made his senior appearance in the 2012 Friends Life T20 against Kent. He scalped four crucial wickets with the figures of 4/23 on debut to help Sussex to an 83 run victory.

The 29-year-old made a surprise appearance at the Black Caps South Island training camp in Lincoln in 2019 in hopes of featuring for the Kiwis. He quickly proved his worth and returned the following season and declared his intention to qualify for New Zealand. The Rondebosch High School alma-mater was Otago’s leading run-scorer in the first-class tournament. Rippon accumulated 364 runs at a healthy average of 72.80 from his spot in the lower middle order.

At the age of 29, the Dutch cricketer hasn’t appeared in an international game since 2018 but with the kind of form he is in, it is highly unlikely that he will be left out from the Netherlands squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup in October.

(As of May 2021)