Rilee Rossouw

Rilee Rossouw Biography

Rilee Roscoe Rossouw, a South African Cricketer was born on October 9th 1989 in Bloemfontein. He is a left -handed batsman and right -handed off break bowler. He played for South Africa before deciding to go the Kolpak route for Hampshire.

Background

Rossouw made his first-class debut for Free State in November 2007. He batted at no 3 in that match and top scored with 83. After his first season for Free State, he played in 3 T20s for the Eagles in Franchise Cricket.

He went to Grey College in Bloemfontein from where he went on to play for South African School teams. He was selected for an under-19 Test Africa against India in 2007. He also represented South Africa in the 2008 U19 World Cup in Malaysia. He scored 136 runs in 6 matches at an average of 34. South Africa reached the finals of the tournament, losing to Virat Kohli’s India.

He then started playing for the Eagles and in the 2008-09 season he scored 765 runs, including 3 centuries. He was the leading run scorer for them that season. He scored his maiden first class century against Titans in 2008 where he scored 106. In the return fixture he again scored a blistering knock of 109 which went in vain.

Rossouw scored his first one-day century against Warriors. He scored 131 of 108 deliveries. In 2009-10 season, he piled 1261 runs at an average of 57.61. He scored his highest first-class score of 319 runs in just 291 balls against Titans.

He was part of the South Africa A side that toured Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. In the following 3 seasons Rossouw averaged 40 which earned him the National team call up.

Debut

His international ODI career started in a very poor way as he scored ducks in 4 occasions out of 6 matches. He got run out in the very first ODI. He got out for a duck in the second match too. He scored his first ODI fifty in his 9th match.

He made his T20 debut for South Africa against Australia in November 2014. He scored a match winning 78 runs of 50 balls which won him the man of the match award.

Rise to Glory

He was then selected for the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup where South Africa finished in the semi-finals. He scored his first international century against West Indies in Johannesburg in 2015.

He played 36 ODIs for South Africa scoring 1,239 runs and played 15 T20Is scoring 327 runs.

Low Points

His career started very poorly as he ended up scoring ducks in 4 of his first 6 matches in ODI’s. Even though he had a very decent first-class record, he could not make it into the Test squad for the National team.

Club Career

Rilee Rossouw played for Knights from 2010 to 2017. He played in IPL for the 4th edition where he was picked by the Royal Challengers Bangalore. He again was bought by Royal Challengers in 2014 as a replacement for Nic Maddinson.

He played for Pakistan Super League side Quetta Gladiators in 2017. He also plays for Khulna Titans in Bangladesh Premier League.

Rossouw's Record in Numbers

Rossouw has scored a triple Century in a first-class match against the Titans which is the fastest among all in South Africa.

In the same match, along with Dean Elgar he made a partnership of 480 runs for the 2nd wicket which is the highest for South Africa for all wickets.

Retirement

Rilee Rossouw is one among the players who signed a Kolpak deal with Hampshire which made him ineligible to play for South Africa.