Martin van Jaarsveld (born 18 June 1974) is a former South African

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 nine

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and eleven

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

s 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 ...

between 2002 and 2004. Van Jaarsveld is a specialist middle-order batsman, though he has two wickets in One Day International cricket, including England opening batsman

Marcus Trescothick Marcus Edward Trescothick (born 25 December 1975) is an English former cricketer who played first-class cricket for Somerset County Cricket Club, and represented England cricket team, England in 76 Test cricket, Test matches and 123 One Day In ...

in a match where he bowled five overs for 18 runs, but did not get to bat because of a 153-run partnership between

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 ...

and Jacques Rudolph.

International career

He got his international debut following his performances in the 2001–02 season, where he made 1,268 runs at a

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

of 74.58, beginning his international career with the home series against

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

in 2002–03, though in a ten-wicket win at Benoni, he made no contribution with bat or ball. He top-scored in the next match, however, making 42, and also dismissed Talha Jubair with his first ball in international cricket to end the innings. In the two Tests, he made 50 runs in two innings, and was dismissed once, lbw to Tapash Baisya. However, after scoring three runs against

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

in the first match of a two-Test series, he was left out as Herschelle Gibbs recovered from a back injury, and only returned for the

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

NatWest Series. South Africa finished second at the three-team tournament, but van Jaarsveld only passed 20 once, ending with 82 runs at an average of 20.50, and he was left out of the squad to tour

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# ...

in 2003–04. He played two Tests in that season, making a maiden Test half-century with 73 against West Indies after Gary Kirsten pulled out, and replacing Neil McKenzie for the final Test in

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, making 59 and 13 not out in a nine-wicket win. Van Jaarsveld also went on tour to

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, but despite a first-innings 51 in the second Test, South Africa lost that match by 313 runs to lose the series. However, he was given one last chance in the One Day International team at the 2004 Champions Trophy, replacing Jean-Paul Duminy after a 0–5 ODI-series loss in Sri Lanka. After not batting against

, van Jaarsveld made a golden duck in South Africa's second and last match, smashing a ball from Ian Bradshaw to

Daren Powell Daren Brent Lyle Powell (born 15 April 1978) is a former West Indian international cricketer who played first-class cricket for Jamaica. As a right-arm fast medium bowler, he has played Test matches and One Day Internationals (ODI) for the ...

in a five-wicket loss to the eventual champions

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

. He played two more Tests, however – making 15 runs in two innings (out of the South Africans' total of 679) in a draw at Green Park Stadium,

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before he was dropped for

Hashim Amla Hashim Mahomed Amla OIS (born 31 March 1983) is a South African former international cricketer who captained the national side in Tests and ODIs. Amla holds the record for being the fastest ever to score 3,000, 4,000, and 7,000 ODI runs, joint ...

. He came back for the second Test of five against

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, but a first-innings 1 did not impress the selectors, though he did make 49 off 52 balls in the second innings as South Africa attempted a chase of 378 in 86 overs.

Kolpak deal and international retirement

In 2005, van Jaarsveld retired from international cricket, choosing instead to become a Kolpak player in English

county cricket Inter-county cricket matches have been played since the early 18th century, involving teams that are representative of the historic counties of England and Wales. Two county championship competitions have existed since the late 19th century at ...

for

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

. Van Jaarsveld claimed that he was making "a decision about what asbest for islong-term future". He made the highest score for Kent in the 2005 season, with 262

not out In cricket, a batsman is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batsman is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at ...

against

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, but was third in the run-scoring tables with 1,198 runs, behind former

Test player Rob Key and 29-year-old Darren Stevens. He returned to South African domestic cricket for the 2005–06 season, playing for the Benoni

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 ...

and making 211 runs in five

SuperSport Series The CSA 4-Day Domestic Series is the domestic first class cricket competition of South Africa. The tournament is contested by teams from all nine provinces of South Africa. First contested as the Currie Cup from 1889–90, the tournament has u ...

games at an average lower than five other Titans players.

References

* * ''Wisden Cricketer's Almanack'' 2003
Batsman Van Jaarsveld joins Kent
from BBC {{DEFAULTSORT:Van Jaarsveld, Martin 1974 births Living people Kent cricketers Northamptonshire cricketers Northerns cricketers South African cricketers South Africa One Day International cricketers South Africa Test cricketers Suffolk cricketers Titans cricketers Glamorgan cricketers Cricketers from Klerksdorp South African expatriate cricketers in England