Juan "Rusty" Theron (born 24 July 1985) is a South African-American professional

cricketer Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

. He played for the Warriors cricket team in South African domestic cricket and Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League and for the South Africa national team. He is a right-arm fast bowler and bats right-handed. He retired from South African domestic cricket on 8 October 2015, following a spate of knee injuries. In 2019, he qualified to represent the United States cricket team in international matches, after fulfilling the International Cricket Council's three-year residency rule. He represented the United States in a

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...

(ODI) match in September 2019. He is known as "Rusty," due to the rustic brown color of his hair.

Playing career

Theron made his debut for Eastern Province in October 2005, appearing in a

List A List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the numbe ...

match at

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha (), formerly Port Elizabeth and colloquially often referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, Sou ...

against the Zimbabwe U-23 team, bowling them out for 145 and thus helping his team win the fixture with match figures of 2/26 of 6.3 overs. He soon made his first class debut in November 2005, appearing against KwaZulu Natal. He soon showed his potential and developed into an important member of the Warriors side, leading the team in subsequent bowling charts in both first-class and List A competitions.

Early career

In 2008, Theron's performances for Warriors led to him being awarded the MTN Domestic Championship Cricketer of the Year award in Cricket South Africa's 2008 Mutual Federal SA Cricket Awards. Also during the same year, he played English club cricket for

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

-based club Audley, where he replaced fellow South African Alfonso Thomas. He also represented the South Africa A side during the same year.

International debut (2010)

Theron's strong domestic performances in all competitions, notably during the Standard Bank Pro20 series, led to him being awarded both a place in South Africa's 18-man provisional

2010 ICC World Twenty20 The 2010 ICC World Twenty20 was the third ICC World Twenty20 competition, an international Twenty20 cricket tournament that was held in the West Indies between 30 April and 16 May 2010. It was won by England, who defeated Australia in the fina ...

squad, a national contract and signing with Indian Premier League team Kings XI Punjab. In his debut for Punjab against the Chennai Super Kings, he recorded figures of 2/17 in his four overs and bowled the Super Over that led his team to victory, subsequently being awarded with the Man of the Match award. He played in the two T20 Internationals against Zimbabwe and during the ODI series he took his first ODI wicket that of opener Hamilton Masakadza. He took 11 wickets in the three-match ODI series against Zimbabwe including a five-wicket haul. He was then selected for the two match twenty-20 series against Pakistan but not the ODI series. He took four wickets in the two match series and was subsequently added to the squad for the ODI series against Pakistan. Theron was picked up by Deccan Chargers for IPL for the season of 2011. Theron (31 off 16) and Wayne Parnell (29 off 11) helped South Africa win the second T20I against Australia, from a score of 84/7.

Indian Premier League (IPL)

Theoren was acquired by the Deccan Chargers in 2011 IPL Auction. He remained for the Deccan Chargers until 2012. When the team was transitioned to Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL, Theron along with other players was released from the franchise. He was in 2013's IPL Auction but was not bought by any franchises. In 2015, Theron was picked up by Rajasthan Royals to Play for IPL 8.

Move to America (2019)

In June 2019, Theron was named in a 30-man training squad for the United States cricket team, ahead of the

Regional Finals In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

of the

2018–19 ICC T20 World Cup Americas Qualifier The 2018–19 ICC Men's T20 World Cup Americas Qualifier was the tournament played as part of qualification process for the 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup. Twelve regional qualifiers were held by the International Cricket Council (ICC), with 62 tea ...

tournament in Bermuda. The following month, he was one of twelve players to sign a three-month central contract with USA Cricket. In September 2019, he was named in United States's

(ODI) squad for the

2019 United States Tri-Nation Series The 2019 United States Tri-Nation Series was the second round of the 2019–2023 ICC Cricket World Cup League 2 cricket tournament and took place in the United States in September 2019. It was a tri-nation series between Namibia, Papua New Guinea ...

. On 13 September 2019, he made his ODI debut for the United States against Papua New Guinea, after previously playing 4 ODIs for South Africa, becoming the 13th cricketer to represent two international teams in ODIs. In November 2019, he was named in the United States' squad for the

2019–20 Regional Super50 The 2019–20 Regional Super50 was the 46th edition of the Regional Super50, the domestic limited-overs cricket competition for the countries of the Cricket West Indies (CWI). The tournament started on 6 November 2019, with the final taking pla ...

tournament. In June 2021, he was selected to take part in the Minor League Cricket tournament in the United States following the players' draft. In October 2021, he was named in the American squad for the

2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup Americas Qualifier The 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup Americas Qualifier was a cricket tournament that was played as part of the qualification process for the 2022 ICC Men's T20 World Cup. It took place in November 2021 in Antigua, with the top two teams progressing t ...

tournament in Antigua. He made his T20I debut on 7 November 2021, for the United States against Belize, becoming the thirteenth cricketer to represent two international teams in T20Is.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Theron, Rusty 1985 births Living people People from Vereeniging White South African people American cricketers South African cricketers South Africa One Day International cricketers South Africa Twenty20 International cricketers United States One Day International cricketers United States Twenty20 International cricketers Eastern Province cricketers Punjab Kings cricketers Warriors cricketers Sussex cricketers Deccan Chargers cricketers Jamaica Tallawahs cricketers Rajasthan Royals cricketers South African emigrants to the United States American people of South African descent Sportspeople from Gauteng Dual international cricketers