The retirement of South African left-arm spinner Robin Peterson was officially confirmed and it brings to end a long and promising career that never really took off. What helped Robbie, as he is known, was that the Proteas were horrifyingly short of spin bowling talents. So someone like him, who could bat and field well too was pure gold.
A steady bowler, who plied his trade in Eastern Province and played in the under-19 World Cup in 1998, Robbie became part of the national team soon. They were in search for someone akin to Nicky Boje, and in Peterson they found every quality matching Boje's, plus his fielding was a huge bonus.
Though Peterson could not hold onto his spot in Test cricket, he became a familiar name in the shorter forms of the game for South Africa. Since 2004, he had a franchise contract with the Warriors and served them for five years before moving to Cape Cobras in 2009. Just this year he switched to Knights and played in all five of the SunFoil series matches this season, before announcing his sudden retirement from all forms of cricket on Wednesday.
He played for the Proteas in 15 Test matches, 79 One Day Internationals and 21 T20 International matches taking 38, 75 and 24 wickets respectively. He also played some crucial innings down the order with the bat.
The 37-year-old lost focus of his national dreams and relinquished them to take up a Kolpak contract, making himself unavailable for national selection. However, a controversial call-up to the World Cup 2011 squad, made him change his mind and he went on to serve the Proteas till 2014, before going out if favour.
His long career was not without its shares of ups and downs. His largely restricted skills plus the fiery fast bowlers in South Africa meant he was often the target for opposition batsmen. Let us take a glance through some interesting facts about the retiring left arm spinner.
#5 IPL heroics
Robbie was signed up to play for Mumbai Indians in the 2012 Indian Premier League after being picked up in the auctions for $100,000. The season turned out to be his one and only stint in the IPL.
However, it did not end without a brilliant exhibition of his skills with the willow. In a match against the Kings XI Punjab, Mumbai required 32 runs in two overs. Peterson, accompanied by the established batsman, Ambati Rayudu decided to take on one of IPL's most successful spinners, Piyush Chawla.
27 runs were plundered in the over as Peterson smashed 15 in his first four balls. Rayudu followed that up with two magnificent sixes as Mumbai Indians cruised to an unlikely victory.
#4 Most runs in an over in Test cricket
Being the weaker one in the pack is not an easy job as Robin Peterson found out in a Test match against West Indies in 2003-04. In a home match for the Proteas at Johannesburg, Peterson was up against the great Brian Lara.
Lara plundered all balls in the over for boundaries, the sequence reading a dismal 4, 6, 6, 4, 4 and 4. A four through backward point was followed up with twin sixes over long on and he completed the over with three consecutive fours to record 28 runs in the over, the most expensive in the history of Test cricket. Later in 2013, Bailey took 28 off Anderson's over in the Ashes to match the feat.
#3 Second most runs in an over in ODIs
Almost a decade later, Robbie was at it again as Thisara Perera took full toil of some lacklustre bowling to plunder 35 runs, the second highest runs scored in an over in ODIs. The incident was in the third ODI of the 2013 South African tour of Sri Lanka at Pallekele.
Sri Lanka were down at 94/7 needing 130 more to win with Thisara Perera and Herath at the crease when Peterson stepped in to bowl. Perera, on 5 off 14 balls at the time, swept him over square leg to start the over with a six. 4 more slog-swept sixes over cow corner followed in the over with a wide ball and a four down the ground adding up to 35 in the over.
Perera hit a 49 ball 65 but was eventually dismissed as Lanka lost the game by a big margin.
#2 Sending off Ricky Ponting
Perth has traditionally been a fast bowler's paradise and question marks were raised when South Africa, who have had recent success in the ground, opted to play a spinner in Robin Peterson in Ricky Ponting's last Test match.
While many fans around the World expected the stalwart batsman to pull out another one of his big knocks, Robin Peterson had other ideas as he invoked an outside edge off Ponting, on 8, that was pouched safely by Kallis in the slip cordon.
Interestingly, Peterson went on to have a great Test match, picking up six wickets in the match as South Africa famously won by 309 runs. Peterson's success in the match may have prompted the move to play another left-arm spinner, Keshav Maharaj, at the same venue, three years later.
#1 The only blemish in India's 2011 World Cup win
Even though India won the 2011 World Cup at home, they suffered one loss in the tournament and that happened at the hands of South Africa, courtesy some final over heroics from Robin Peterson.
In Nagpur, in a closely fought match, South Africa needed 13 off the final over from Ashish Nehra, to win. Robin Peterson was, however, in no mood to let India win, as he smacked a four to start of the over. A six off the second delivery sunk India's hopes as only three runs were required to win in as many balls.
Also Read: South Africa’s all-time Cricket World Cup XI
A double and a four finished the game as South Africa snatched an unlikely victory from the hands of India. Peterson went on to have a great World Cup, becoming the highest wicket taker of the tournament for the Proteas. His best bowling figures in ODIs came against Bangladesh in the World Cup, a 4/12 that helped bowl the Tigers out for a meagre 78.
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