Vintcent Adriaan Pieter van der Bijl (born 19 March 1948) is a retired South African cricketer. He was born in

Rondebosch Rondebosch is one of the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town, South Africa. It is primarily a residential suburb, with shopping and business districts as well as the main campus of the University of Cape Town. History Four years after the first Dutch s ...

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

, where his father,

Pieter van der Bijl Pieter Gerhard Vintcent van der Bijl (21 October 1907 in Kenilworth, South Africa – 16 February 1973 in Kalk Bay, Cape Province) was a South African cricketer who played in 5 Tests in 1938–39. His son, Vintcent, also had a successful first ...

, was headmaster of the Diocesan College Preparatory School after retiring from playing

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officia ...

for

Western Province Western Province or West Province may refer to: * Western Province, Cameroon *Western Province, Rwanda *Western Province (Kenya) *Western Province (Papua New Guinea) *Western Province (Solomon Islands) *Western Province, Sri Lanka *Western Provin ...

and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. His grandfather, V.A.W. van der Bijl (also Vintcent), and great-uncle,

Voltelin van der Bijl Voltelin Albert William van der Bijl (31 January 1872 – 2 October 1941) was a South African cricketer who played for Western Province in the 1890s. Voltelin van der Bijl was an all-rounder who batted in the middle order and opened the bowling ...

, also played first-class cricket for Western Province. He was educated at the Diocesan College Rondebosch, where he not only excelled at cricket, but, owing to his size and strength, was a useful

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

player and outstanding

shot putter The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's c ...

and at the

University of Natal The University of Natal was a university in the former South African province Natal which later became KwaZulu-Natal. The University of Natal no longer exists as a distinct legal entity, as it was incorporated into the University of KwaZulu-N ...

. While at university he came under the influence of

Trevor Goddard Trevor Joseph Goddard (14 October 1962 – 7 June 2003) was an English actor. He was best known for playing Kano in the martial arts film ''Mortal Kombat'', Lieutenant Commander Mic Brumby in the television series '' JAG'' and main villain ...

. After graduating, he became a teacher at

Maritzburg College Maritzburg College is a semi-private English-medium high school for boys situated in the city of Pietermaritzburg, in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was founded in 1863 and it's the oldest boys' high school in KwaZulu-Natal – and one of the ...

in Pietermaritzburg and played first-class cricket as an amateur for

Natal NATAL or Natal may refer to: Places * Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil * Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa ** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843) ** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ( ...

from 1968/69 to 1979/80. He was ''South African Cricket Annual'' Cricketer of the Year in 1971. He was appointed captain of Natal in 1976/7 in which year the team won the

Currie Cup The Currie Cup is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition, played each winter and spring (June to October), featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premier ...

and Datsun Shield. He gave up teaching in 1979 and went to work for

Wiggins Teape Arjowiggins is an independent paper manufacturer based in Scotland. History The company's origins go back to 1761 when Buckland Mill in Dover in Kent commenced operations. Meanwhile, in France, in the middle of the 20th century there were fou ...

, but he was given leave to play for

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...

in 1980. He took 85 first-class

wicket In cricket, the term wicket has several meanings: * It is one of the two sets of three stumps and two bails at either end of the pitch. The fielding team's players can hit the wicket with the ball in a number of ways to get a batsman out. ...

s for Middlesex at a bowling average of 14.72, the third-best first-class bowling average for that season among bowlers with more than 20 wickets, behind Joel Garner and

Richard Hadlee Sir Richard John Hadlee (born 3 July 1951) is a New Zealand former cricketer. Hadlee is widely regarded as one of the greatest all-rounders in cricket history, and amongst the very finest fast bowlers. Hadlee was appointed an MBE in the 1980 ...

. Middlesex won the

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...

and the Gillette Cup, and he was named as one of the five

Wisden Cricketers of the Year The ''Wisden'' Cricketers of the Year are cricketers selected for the honour by the annual publication ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', based primarily on their "influence on the previous English season". The award began in 1889 with the naming ...

in 1981. He played a final season for

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name Transvaal. * South African Republic (1856–1902; af, ...

in 1982/3. In all, he played in 156 first-class matches, taking 767 wickets at an average of 16.55. He was tall, 202 cm (6 ft 7½in), and bowled his

fast-medium Fast bowling (also referred to as pace bowling) is one of two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket, the other being spin bowling. Practitioners of pace bowling are usually known as ''fast'' bowlers, ''quicks'', or ''pacemen''. T ...

deliveries with accuracy, pace and bounce. The peak of his playing career was during the years of South African sporting isolation, as a result of the South African government's

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

policies. He was picked for the 1971/72 South African tour to Australia which was cancelled in the wake of the

d'Oliveira affair The D'Oliveira affair was a prolonged political and sporting controversy relating to the scheduled 1968–69 tour of South Africa by the England cricket team, who were officially representing the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). The point of cont ...

. Cricinfo describes him as "one of the best bowlers not to play

Test cricket Test cricket is a form of first-class cricket played at international level between teams representing full member countries of the International Cricket Council (ICC). A match consists of four innings (two per team) and is scheduled to last f ...

". In 2008 he was named ICC umpires' and referees' manager.

References

*
Profile
from CricketArchive
Profile
from Cricket Online
Biography
as a

Wisden Cricketer of the Year The ''Wisden'' Cricketers of the Year are cricketers selected for the honour by the annual publication ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', based primarily on their "influence on the previous English season". The award began in 1889 with the naming ...

in 1981 {{DEFAULTSORT:Van der Bijl, Vintcent 1948 births Living people University of Natal alumni Middlesex cricketers South African cricketers South African Universities cricketers KwaZulu-Natal cricketers Gauteng cricketers Wisden Cricketers of the Year South African cricket coaches People from Rondebosch Cricketers from the Western Cape

See also

References