Johannes Gerhardus Myburgh (born 22 October 1980) is a former British-South African cricketer who played domestic cricket in England for

Somerset County Cricket Club Somerset County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class cricket, first-class county cricket, county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the Historic counties of England, historic county of Somer ...

. A right-handed batsman and occasional

off break Off spin is a type of spin bowling in cricket. A bowler who uses this technique is called an off spinner. Off spinners bowl with their right-arm and a finger spin action. Their normal delivery is called an off break, which spins from left to ...

bowler, Myburgh was also a talented fielder, and is the current holder of the record for the youngest scorer of a double-century in South African domestic cricket, breaking the record of

Graeme Pollock Robert Graeme Pollock (born 27 February 1944) is a former cricketer for South African national cricket team, South Africa, Transvaal cricket team, Transvaal and Eastern Province cricket team, Eastern Province. A member of a famous cricketing fam ...

in 1997 when aged 17. Though born in South Africa, he emigrated to New Zealand in 2007, where he planned to qualify for the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

. Myburgh has since abandoned his New Zealand ambitions and moved to the UK, where he has played for

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

and Durham. He joined his third English county,

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

, in 2014. In 2021, he was named as Head Coach of the

South East Stars South East Stars were a women's cricket team that represented the London & South East region, one of eight regional hubs in English domestic women's cricket. They played their home matches at various grounds, including the County Cricket Ground ...

, leading them to victory in the inaugural edition of the

Charlotte Edwards Cup The Charlotte Edwards Cup, initially named the Women's Regional T20, was an English and Welsh women's cricket Twenty20 domestic competition, held annually from 2021 to 2024. The tournament was named after England's former captain and most capped ...

Career

South Africa

Myburgh was born in Pretoria, along with his brother Stephan, who has played international cricket for the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. Myburgh made his first-class debut in 1997 for Northerns B. Myburgh played four Under-19 Test matches and seventeen Under-19 ODIs for

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, including all six of the team's matches during the 1998 World Cup, which took place in South Africa. After two years playing for Northerns B, Myburgh was elevated to the full Northerns side for the 1999/00 season. On 7 January 2001, during a one-day game, he scored an opening partnership of 156 with Jacques Rudolph before being dismissed for 95. On 15 October 2004 he scored 102 against Easterns during a first-class match, and on 9 January 2005 he scored 100* against

Border Borders are generally defined as geography, geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by polity, political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other administrative divisio ...

. Myburgh first played for the

Titans In Greek mythology, the Titans ( ; ) were the pre-Twelve Olympians, Olympian gods. According to the ''Theogony'' of Hesiod, they were the twelve children of the primordial parents Uranus (mythology), Uranus (Sky) and Gaia (Earth). The six male ...

, the franchise formed from the merger of the Northerns and Easterns, in the 2004/05 season. Late in 2005, Myburgh scored 56* against the

Warriors A warrior is a guardian specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based warrior culture society that recognizes a separate warrior aristocracy, class, or caste. History Warriors seem to have been p ...

, and he became the Titans' leading run scorer in the Standard Bank Cup in 2005/06, hitting 237 runs in ten matches with a high score of 59*. In 2006, playing for Northerns, Myburgh scored a 50 as they faced

Western Province Western Province or West Province may refer to: *Western Province, Cameroon *Western Province, Rwanda *Western Province (Kenya) *Western Province (Papua New Guinea) *Western Province (Solomon Islands) *Western Province, Sri Lanka *Western Provinc ...

on 8 April, and then scored another 55-ball 50 against the

South African national cricket team The South Africa men's national cricket team, also known as the Proteas, represents South Africa in men's international cricket and is administered by Cricket South Africa. South Africa is a full member of the International Cricket Council. T ...

in September.

New Zealand

In 2007, Myburgh emigrated to New Zealand, in order to replace the retiring Nathan Astle at

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

. Myburgh was aware that he needed to play only three seasons in New Zealand to qualify for their national team. He quickly cemented his place in the Canterbury side when he scored 148* off 154 balls with four sixes as his team moved on to 344/1, and followed this with another century in December, a fifty in January 2008, and a 98-ball 87 in February against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

England

After three years with Canterbury, Myburgh was originally due to sign for

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

for the 2010/11 season, but he declined his contract offer in order to pursue a career in England, to where he relocated, living with his English wife. If he had played one further season in New Zealand, he would have been eligible to play international cricket for New Zealand. In contrast, he would only become eligible for the England team after four seasons in England. Myburgh joined

as a Kolpak registration, making his debut for the county in the

2010–11 Caribbean Twenty20 The 2010–11 Caribbean Twenty20 season was the second season of the Caribbean Twenty20, a domestic Twenty20 tournament administrated by the West Indies Cricket Board. The season began on 10 January 2011, six months after the 2010 tournament, an ...

, in which the county ended as runners-up. After one season with Hampshire, Myburgh was released by the county, having not played for the first team since May. He later signed for Durham for their 2012 Friends Life t20 campaign. Myburgh's contract with Durham was extended until the end of the season, following impressive performances during the FLt20. Myburgh spent much of the summer of 2013 playing club cricket as captain of Sutton CC, a team in the Surrey Premier League. He had previously played for the same side in three matches in 2003. Myburgh signed for Somerset, his third English county, for the 2014 season. He rejoined Director of Cricket Dave Nosworthy, who was previously coach for the Titans and Canterbury whilst Myburgh played for those teams. Myburgh scored a century on the opening day of the 2015 season at home to Middlesex and enjoyed success as an opener in the Natwest T20 Blast in the same season. He signed a white-ball contract for 2018, to play in the One-Day Cup and the

T20 Blast The T20 Blast, officially known as the Vitality Blast for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Twenty20 cricket league in England and Wales. The competition was established by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003. T20 Blast is t ...

. In August 2018, Myburgh announced his intention to retire at the end of the season.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Myburgh, Johann 1980 births Living people South African cricketers New Zealand cricketers Northerns cricketers Titans cricketers Canterbury cricketers Hampshire cricketers Durham cricketers Somerset cricketers Cricketers from Pretoria South African emigrants to the United Kingdom English cricketers South African emigrants to New Zealand English people of South African descent South African expatriate sportspeople in England South African expatriate sportspeople in New Zealand South African expatriate cricketers Expatriate cricketers in New Zealand