Juan "Rusty" Theron (born 24 July 1985) is a South African-American professional

cricketer Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

. He played for the Warriors cricket team in South African domestic cricket and

Rajasthan Royals Rajasthan Royals (often abbreviated as RR) are a franchise cricket team based in Jaipur, Rajasthan, that plays in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Founded in 2008 as one of the initial eight IPL franchises, the team is based at the Sawai ...

in the

Indian Premier League The Indian Premier League (IPL), also known as Tata Group, TATA IPL for sponsorship reasons, is a men's T20 cricket, T20 Professional sports league organization, franchise cricket Sports league, league of India. It is annually contested by ...

and for the South Africa national team. He is a right-arm

fast bowler Fast bowling (also referred to as pace bowling) is one of two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket, the other being spin bowling. Practitioners of pace bowling are usually known as ''fast'' bowlers, ''quicks'', or ''pacemen''. T ...

and bats right-handed. He retired from South African domestic cricket on 8 October 2015, following a spate of knee injuries. In 2019, he qualified to represent the

United States cricket team The United States national cricket team is the team that represents the United States in international cricket. The team was formerly organised by the United States of America Cricket Association (USACA), which became an associate member of ...

in international matches, after fulfilling the

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the world governing body of cricket. Headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, its members are List of International Cricket Council members, 108 national associations, with 12 List of Internation ...

's three-year residency rule. He represented the United States in a

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World Cup ...

(ODI) match in September 2019. He is known as "Rusty," due to the rustic brown color of his hair.

Playing career

Theron made his debut for Eastern Province in October 2005, appearing in a

List A List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the numbe ...

match at

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha (), formerly Port Elizabeth and colloquially often referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, S ...

against the Zimbabwe U-23 team, bowling them out for 145 and thus helping his team win the fixture with match figures of 2/26 of 6.3 overs. He soon made his first class debut in November 2005, appearing against

KwaZulu Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is loca ...

. He soon showed his potential and developed into an important member of the Warriors side, leading the team in subsequent bowling charts in both first-class and List A competitions.

Early career

In 2008, Theron's performances for Warriors led to him being awarded the MTN Domestic Championship Cricketer of the Year award in

Cricket South Africa Cricket South Africa (CSA) is the governing body for both professional and amateur cricket in South Africa. In 1991, the separate South African Cricket Union and the South African Cricket Board merged to form the United Cricket Board of South Afr ...

's 2008 Mutual Federal SA Cricket Awards. Also during the same year, he played English club cricket for Staffordshire-based club Audley, where he replaced fellow South African Alfonso Thomas. He also represented the South Africa A side during the same year.

International debut (2010)

Theron's strong domestic performances in all competitions, notably during the Standard Bank Pro20 series, led to him being awarded both a place in South Africa's 18-man provisional

2010 ICC World Twenty20 The 2010 ICC World Twenty20 was the third ICC World Twenty20 competition, an international Twenty20 cricket tournament that was held in the West Indies between 30 April and 16 May 2010. It was won by England, who defeated Australia in the fi ...

squad, a national contract and signing with

team

Kings XI Punjab Punjab Kings (PBKS) are a franchise cricket team based in Mohali, Punjab, that plays in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Established in 2008 as the Kings XI Punjab (KXIP), the franchise is jointly owned by Mohit Burman, Ness Wadia, Preity Zi ...

. In his debut for Punjab against the

Chennai Super Kings Chennai Super Kings (CSK) is an Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise cricket team based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Founded in 2008, the team plays its home matches at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. The team is owned by India ...

, he recorded figures of 2/17 in his four overs and bowled the Super Over that led his team to victory, subsequently being awarded with the Man of the Match award. He played in the two T20 Internationals against Zimbabwe and during the ODI series he took his first ODI wicket that of opener

Hamilton Masakadza Hamilton Masakadza (born 9 August 1983) is a Zimbabwean former cricketer, who played all formats of the game for Zimbabwe. He captained the national team during 2016 ICC World T20, but was relieved of his duties due to an indifferent performanc ...

. He took 11 wickets in the three-match ODI series against Zimbabwe including a five-wicket haul. He was then selected for the two match twenty-20 series against Pakistan but not the ODI series. He took four wickets in the two match series and was subsequently added to the squad for the ODI series against Pakistan. Theron was picked up by Deccan Chargers for IPL for the season of 2011. Theron (31 off 16) and Wayne Parnell (29 off 11) helped South Africa win the second T20I against Australia, from a score of 84/7.

Indian Premier League (IPL)

Theoren was acquired by the Deccan Chargers in 2011 IPL Auction. He remained for the Deccan Chargers until 2012. When the team was transitioned to Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL, Theron along with other players was released from the franchise. He was in 2013's IPL Auction but was not bought by any franchises. In 2015, Theron was picked up by Rajasthan Royals to Play for IPL 8.

Move to America (2019)

In June 2019, Theron was named in a 30-man training squad for the

, ahead of the

Regional Finals In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

of the 2018–19 ICC T20 World Cup Americas Qualifier tournament in Bermuda. The following month, he was one of twelve players to sign a three-month central contract with

USA Cricket USA Cricket (USAC) is the governing body of cricket in the United States. USA Cricket operates all of the United States national representative cricket sides, including the men's and women's national teams and youth teams, as well as Minor Le ...

. In September 2019, he was named in United States's

(ODI) squad for the 2019 United States Tri-Nation Series. On 13 September 2019, he made his ODI debut for the United States against

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

, after previously playing 4 ODIs for South Africa, becoming the 13th cricketer to represent two international teams in ODIs. In November 2019, he was named in the United States' squad for the

2019–20 Regional Super50 The 2019–20 Regional Super50 was the 46th edition of the Regional Super50, the domestic limited-overs cricket competition for the countries of the Cricket West Indies (CWI). The tournament started on 6 November 2019, with the final taking pla ...

tournament. In June 2021, he was selected to take part in the Minor League Cricket tournament in the United States following the players' draft. In October 2021, he was named in the American squad for the

2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup Americas Qualifier The 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup Americas Qualifier was a cricket tournament that was played as part of the qualification process for the 2022 ICC Men's T20 World Cup. It took place in November 2021 in Antigua, with the top two teams progressing ...

tournament in Antigua. He made his T20I debut on 7 November 2021, for the United States against

Belize Belize (; bzj, Bileez) is a Caribbean and Central American country on the northeastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a wa ...

, becoming the thirteenth cricketer to represent two international teams in T20Is.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Theron, Rusty 1985 births Living people People from Vereeniging White South African people American cricketers South African cricketers South Africa One Day International cricketers South Africa Twenty20 International cricketers United States One Day International cricketers United States Twenty20 International cricketers Eastern Province cricketers Punjab Kings cricketers Warriors cricketers Sussex cricketers Deccan Chargers cricketers Jamaica Tallawahs cricketers Rajasthan Royals cricketers South African emigrants to the United States American people of South African descent Sportspeople from Gauteng Dual international cricketers