Johannes Jacobus van der Wath (born 10 January 1978) is a South African former

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er who played Limited Over Internationals.

Playing style

Van der Wath is an attacking right-handed

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the cricket ball, ball with a cricket bat, bat to score runs (cricket), runs and prevent the dismissal (cricket), loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since Septembe ...

who usually bats in the lower middle order coming in and increasing the strike rate. He is also an aggressive right-arm medium-fast bowler who regularly takes wickets with the new ball.

Domestic career

South Africa

Van der Wath started his career off in 1995 with the Easterns in South Africa where he played one One Day match. The following year he made his first class debut but only played one more match after that before joining Free State for the beginning of the 1997

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 ...

n season. He scored his highest first class score of 113* in 2002 while playing for Free State. After 7 seasons with the club he joined the

Eagles Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...

. It was here where he produced performances good enough for the

Protea ''Protea'' () is a genus of South African flowering plants, also called sugarbushes (Afrikaans: ''suikerbos''). It is the type genus of the Proteaceae family. About 92% of the species occur only in the Cape Floristic Region, a narrow belt of mo ...

selectors to take notice of him and in his second season he made his international debut. He was banned from playing in South Africa when he joined the

Indian Cricket League The Indian Cricket League (ICL) was a short-lived cricket league that ran from 2007 to 2009. It was sponsored by Zee Entertainment Enterprises, a media company. The ICL had two seasons, featuring four international teams and nine domestic teams ...

England

While still playing in South Africa, he joined

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

in 2005 as an overseas player for the English season playing in 17 matches altogether. He then joined his second

English county The counties of England are a type of subdivision of England. Counties have been used as administrative areas in England since Anglo-Saxon times. There are three definitions of county in England: the 48 ceremonial counties used for the purpo ...

in 2007 playing for

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...

, but didn't finish the season after being called up by South Africa for the World Twenty20, and he was replaced by

Nicky Boje Nico Boje ( ; born 20 March 1973) is a South African former cricketer who played in 43 Tests, 115 One Day Internationals and single Twenty20 International for South Africa. Boje was a member of the South Africa team that won the 1998 ICC KnockO ...

(who next year became captain). The next year his was signed as a Kolpak player, however just before the season started he was banned by the ECB for playing in the now defunct

(ICL) alongside four other players including Northampton's new signing

Andrew Hall Andrew James Hall (born 31 July 1975) is a former South African first-class cricketer who played from 1999 until 2011. He played as an all-rounder who bowled fast-medium pace and has been used as both an opening batsman and in the lower order. ...

. A month later after an appeal, he and Hall were allowed to play again, a spokesman said it was an "unlawful, unreasonable, capricious and discriminatory" ban. During that year, Johan recorded his best first class figures of 7/60 and took 43 wicket altogether that season. In 2009, he was an important team member of the Northants Steelbacks

Twenty20 Cup 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 ...

squad that got to the finals day at

Edgbaston Edgbaston () is a suburb of Birmingham, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It lies immediately south-west of Birmingham city centre, and was historically in Warwickshire. The Ward (electoral subdivision), wards of Edgbaston and Nort ...

. During the group stages he won the match against

Worcestershire Royals Worcestershire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Worcestershire. Its Vitality Blast T20 team has been rebranded ...

scoring the 22 needed in the last over that kept Northamptonshire's winning run going. That season proved to be Johan's best season at Northants as he took over 50 first class wickets and scored just under 500 runs. Van der Wath and Riki Wessels were unable to play for the county in the 2010 season.

Indian Cricket League

Van der Wath only played two seasons of the

before cancelling his own contract. He played for the Mumbai Champs alongside fellow international cricketers

Nathan Astle Nathan John Astle (born 15 September 1971) is a former New Zealand cricketer, who played all formats of the game. A right-handed batsman who played as an opener in One Day Internationals (ODI), while batting in the middle order in Test matches. ...

, Tino Best and

Michael Kasprowicz Michael Scott Kasprowicz (born 10 February 1972) is a former Australian international cricketer, who played all formats of the game. He is a right arm fast bowler. He represented Queensland and played in the English county scene at first cla ...

. He played 23 matches with a highest score of 43* against Ahmedabad Rockets and his best figures were 3/24 versus Chennai Superstars. For the 2011 season he has joined

Royal Challengers Bangalore The Royal Challengers Bengaluru, formerly Royal Challengers Bangalore, also known as RCB, are a professional Twenty20, Twenty20 cricket team based in Bengaluru, Karnataka, that competes in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Founded in 2008 ...

in the IPL.

International career

He played for Under 19's South African team in 97 making two appearances against

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

, making the step up to 'A' cricket four years later, playing up until 2006. Although Johan never played

test cricket Test cricket is a Forms of cricket, format of the sport of cricket, considered the game’s most prestigious and traditional form. Often referred to as the "ultimate test" of a cricketer's skill, endurance, and temperament, it is a format of i ...

, he was a regular in the

one day side between 2006 and 2007 playing 10 ODI's and also 8 international

Twenty20 Twenty20 (abbreviated T20) is a shortened format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the county cricket, inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two t ...

matches. It was during this period in one of the matches, he scored a quick fire 35 from 18 balls on the way to the World Famous Chase of 434 against Australia. His debut came when

Jacques Kallis Jacques Henry Kallis Order of Ikhamanga, OIS (born 16 October 1975) is a South African cricket coach and former professional cricketer. Widely regarded as one of the greatest cricketers of all time and as one of the greatest all-rounders ever t ...

was injured during the VB Series in Australia, and played his first game at the

Telstra Dome Docklands Stadium, known by naming rights sponsorship as Marvel Stadium, is a multi-purpose sports and entertainment stadium in the suburb of Docklands in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Construction started in October 1997 and was completed ...

, in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. He retired from

International Cricket International cricket matches are played between the teams representing their nations, administrated by the International Cricket Council. The main forms are Test matches, ODI matches and T20I matches. Most games are played as part of "tou ...

in 2007 after South Africa also banned him due to him playing in the rebel

. Two years later though, Johan along with

Northants Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordsh ...

teammate

were allowed to play for their country again after ending their contracts with the ICL before the deadline of 31 May 2009 set by Cricket South Africa.Hall, Van der Wath back in mainstream of South African cricket
''MSN Sport.'' Retrieved 1 August 2009.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Van Der Wath, Johan 1978 births Living people Sportspeople from Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal Cricketers from KwaZulu-Natal Afrikaner people South African people of Dutch descent South African cricketers South Africa One Day International cricketers South Africa Twenty20 International cricketers 21st-century South African sportsmen Easterns cricketers Free State cricketers Knights cricketers Sussex cricketers Northamptonshire cricketers Canterbury cricketers Royal Challengers Bengaluru cricketers Mumbai Champs cricketers ICL World XI cricketers South African expatriate cricketers in England South African expatriate cricketers in India