Zander de Bruyn (born 5 July 1975) 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. He was a right-handed batsman and a right-arm medium-fast bowler. He played three

Test matches Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Indoor cricket, Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (associa ...

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 ...

, and played domestic cricket for the

Highveld Lions The DP World Lions is a professional cricket team in Johannesburg, Gauteng. The home venue is the DP World Wanderers Stadium which is situated in Illovo Sandton on Corlett Drive. The team plays in the CSA 4-Day Series first class cricket comp ...

. He was a batting

all-rounder An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are cons ...

whose elegance at the crease drew comparisons with former South African captain

Hansie Cronje Wessel Johannes Cronje (25 September 1969 – 1 June 2002) was a South African international cricketer and captain of the South Africa national cricket team in the 1990s. A right-handed all-rounder, as captain Cronje led his team to victory in 2 ...

. His medium-pace bowling was able to take the pressure off the front-line bowlers, with his ability to restrict the run-rate and take partnership-breaking wickets.

Career

De Bruyn began his career with

Transvaal cricket team Gauteng (formerly Transvaal) is the first-class cricket team of the southern parts of Gauteng province of South Africa. The team was called ''Transvaal'' from April 1890 to April 1997 (the area north of Johannesburg, including Pretoria being par ...

(later

Gauteng cricket team Gauteng (formerly Transvaal) is the first-class cricket team of the southern parts of Gauteng province of South Africa. The team was called ''Transvaal'' from April 1890 to April 1997 (the area north of Johannesburg, including Pretoria being par ...

). However, his career only really started to prosper when he joined Easterns in 2002. Having been out of a contract at Gauteng, and without an offer of a new one, he took a part-time job in a retail clothing firm Coach Ray Jennings offered him a place in the team on a pay-as-you-play basis, and de Bruyn returned to first-class cricket. In the 2003–04

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 ...

, after a missable first innings, de Bruyn top scored with 169 to help Easterns claim the title for the first time. Z de bruyn 100

His first-class batting average prior to this was a meagre 29.61, while his batting average since is over 40. In 2003–04 he became only the second player in South African cricket, after

Barry Richards Barry Anderson Richards (born 21 July 1945) is a former South African first-class cricketer. A right-handed "talent of such enormous stature", Richards is considered one of South Africa's most successful batsmen. He was able to play only fou ...

, to score 1000 domestic first-class runs in a season, in either the

or the Currie Cup. De Bruyn's

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

debut came against

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in November 2004. He played in both Tests in the South Africans tour of India, scoring his career best Test score of 83 in the first innings of the first Test. He kept his place in the squad for the home series against

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, playing in the first Test; but was subsequently dropped for the return of

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 ...

. In

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

, he joined

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

as a Kolpak player. During this time, he failed to impress; his first-class wickets costing almost a hundred runs each, and only a late season century against

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 ...

rescuing his batting average. He was part of 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 ...

squad that shared the 2005–06

. The following season, he moved to 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 ...

, but was limited to only five first-class appearances. In 2007–08, he posted his best bowling figures of 7/67 against previous club Titans. In both 2006–07 and 2007–08, he was a losing finalist in the

MTN Domestic Championship The CSA One-Day Cup (formerly known as the Standard Bank Cup, the MTN Domestic Championship, and the Momentum One-Day Cup) is the premier domestic one-day cricket competition of South Africa, its matches having List A status. Matches are usual ...

. In April 2008 de Bruyn signed for

as a Kolpak player. He remained with them for the 2009 season, leading the team in

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 ...

runs. In June 2009, it was announced that de Bruyn had signed for the

Lions The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large cat of the genus ''Panthera'', native to Sub-Saharan Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; a short, rounded head; round ears; and a dark, hairy tuft at the tip of its tail. It is se ...

. On 3 December 2010, it was announced that de Bruyn had signed a one-year deal at

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

as a Kolpak player. After this season he could obtain a British passport. de Bruyn was released by Surrey at the end of the 2013 season. In April 2014 he announced his retirement from playing the game.''Daily Telegraph'', page S19, "Sport in Brief", 9 April 2014.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:De Bruyn, Zander 1975 births Living people Surrey cricketers South Africa Test cricketers South African cricketers Easterns cricketers Gauteng cricketers Somerset cricketers Titans cricketers Warriors cricketers 21st-century South African sportsmen Worcestershire cricketers Surrey Cricket Board cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Abahani Limited cricketers Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom Naturalised sports competitors South African expatriate cricketers in England South African expatriate cricketers in Bangladesh