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A champion of a cricketer considered one of the greatest all-rounders of all time, South African great Lance Klusener turns 44 today. Having made his one-day international (ODI) debut against England in January 1996, he represented South Africa in 171 ODIs, scoring 3576 runs at a healthy average of 41.10 and a strike rate of 89.91 - which makes him one the most accomplished modern-day batsmen.
Of his various exploits in the shorter format of the game, the standout one was his performance at the 1999 World Cup. Klusener who almost single-handedly won the 1999 World Cup for the Proteas was adjudged the Player of the Series for picking up 17 wickets and scoring 250 runs.
He was brought up on a sugarcane field among Zulu children and also was in the army for three years, which resulted in his mentality of hit the batsman's head if you can't hit his stumps. He started off as a pace bowler, but persistent ankle injuries resulted in him bowling medium pace with a lot of variations which gave him and edge during his later years.
The all-rounder also had a successful start to his career, claiming 8 wickets for 64 for runs in the debut Test. His batting style was also unorthodox with a high baseball like backlift which gave him the name of being the finest ‘sloggers’ in the game of cricket.
10 facts about the South African great
1. Test Debut: Klusener made his Test debut against India at the Eden Gardens in 1996. Playing as a bowler predominantly in this game, he was battered in the first innings and was also hit for five consecutive fours by Mohammad Azharuddin on one occasion.
He leaked 75 runs in the first innings without any success but came back a different bowler in the second innings claiming a career-best 8 for 64, India had no answers for his bowling as the collapsed for a paltry total of 137, and in the process lost to South Africa by 329 runs. He played only 49 matches during his Test career where he scored 1906 runs at an average of 32.86 and picked up 80 wickets.
2. Nicknamed Zulu: Zulu is one of the official languages of South Africa, with almost 10 million people speaking the language throughout the country. Klusener was nicknamed ‘Zulu’ because of his fluency in the language and was brought up on a sugarcane plantation with a lot of Zulu kids around, he was also from the same community.
3. 1999 World Cup heroics: Klusener began his career as a bowler, but later he blossomed into one of the most dangerous batsmen around 1999. In the 1999 cricket WC, he was effective with both bat and ball. In nine matches, Klusener scored 281 runs with an average sky-rocketing to 140-plus.
He had the highest strike-rate in the tournament of 122.20, Klusener nearly took the South Africans to the World Cup glory, had that huge misunderstanding running between the wickets with Allan Donald not happen in the semi-final versus Australia.
Klusener finished the tournament with 17 wickets, only three behind Geoff Allot from New Zealand and Shane Warne from Australia, who were the joint highest wicket-takers with 20 wickets each. He won four Man-of-the-Match awards in the nine games he played, which were in four consecutive South African wins. Following his exploits in the WC, he was named the Player of the Tournament and as a result, he topped the ICC ODI batting rankings.
4. A phone call from Nelson Mandela: South Africa crashed out from the 1999 WC in a bizarre manner but when Klusener returned home, he was stunned by the heroic reception he received. There was a large crowd that welcomed him, but there was one call from someone who he would have never expected, a phone call from Nelson Mandela! Initially, Klusener didn’t believe his teammates but when he went on to take the call he was surprised.
Both Mandela and Klusener spoke in Zulu and Mandela congratulated him on his heroics and all he had done for his nation.
5. Feud with Captain Graeme Smith: Graeme Smith made it clear from his end that he did not want Klusener in his team when he was appointed as the captain. Smith, who retired as one of the greatest South African captains, captaining South Africa in over 100 matches, described Klusener as a “disruptive force” to the younger players within the team.
But Klusener believed till the end of his career that Smith felt threatened by him and that is why he got rid of him, but they supposedly patched up their differences later.
6. Most five-wicket hauls by a South African in ODI's: Klusener claimed six five-wicket hauls in ODIs, he has one more than Shaun Pollock who has five 5 wicket hauls. Despite enjoying immense success in the ODI format, the all-rounder did not make much mark in Test cricket with his bowling.
7. ICL with Royal Bengal (Kolkata) Tigers: Klusener took part in the Indian Cricket League which was not backed by the BCCI and represented Royal Bengal Tigers for two years. Later on, ICL which was the first of its kind tournament in India could not carry on and was terminated in 2009.
8. Coaching Stint: Klusener completed his level-three coaching course provided by Cricket South Africa (CSA) in 2010, after ending all ties with ICL, this which led to his negotiation with Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) to join them as a bowling coach which he turned down later.
He was appointed as interim head coach of the Sunfoil Dolphins for the 2011-12 season and he still continues to coach them.
9. Just one of four players to have batted at every position: Klusener is one of four batsmen who have batted at all the 10 positions. The other cricketers who have this distinction are Abdul Razzaq, Shoaib Malik, and Hashan Tillakaratne. This shows his quality to play at any position.
10. Highest Average at World Cups: Klusener showed glimpses of his ability leading in to the 1999 WC and his execution during the tournament was brilliant. He picked up 17 wickets at an average of 20.58 and scored 281 runs which included two half-centuries in nine games at an average of 140.50.
In the 14 WC games, he scored 372 runs at a remarkable batting average of 124, which is still the highest batting average for any player in the history of the Cricket World Cup. He was outstanding with the ball as well, particularly in WC, where he finished with 22 wickets at an average of 22.13.
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