Zander de Bruyn (born 5 July 1975) is a former South African

cricket 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 ...

er. He was a right-handed batsman and a right-arm medium-fast bowler. He played three Test matches for

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

, and played domestic cricket for the

Highveld Lions DP World Lions is a professional cricket team in Johannesburg, Gauteng. The home venue is the DP World Wanderers Stadium. The team plays in the CSA 4-Day Series first class cricket competition as well as in the Momentum 1 Day Cup, CSA Pro ...

. He was a batting

all-rounder An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are consi ...

whose elegance at the crease drew comparisons with former South African captain

Hansie Cronje Wessel Johannes "Hansie" Cronje (25 September 1969 – 1 June 2002) was a South African international cricketer and captain of the South African national cricket team in the 1990s. A right-handed all-rounder, as captain Cronje led his team to vi ...

. His medium-pace bowling was able to take the pressure off the front-line bowlers, with his ability to restrict the run-rate and take partnership-breaking wickets.

Career

De Bruyn began his career with

Transvaal cricket team Gauteng (formerly Transvaal) is the first-class cricket team of the southern parts of Gauteng province of South Africa. The team was called ''Transvaal'' from April 1890 to April 1997 (the area north of Johannesburg, including Pretoria being part o ...

(later

Gauteng cricket team Gauteng (formerly Transvaal) is the first-class cricket team of the southern parts of Gauteng province of South Africa. The team was called ''Transvaal'' from April 1890 to April 1997 (the area north of Johannesburg, including Pretoria being part o ...

). However, his career only really started to prosper when he joined Easterns in 2002. Having been out of a contract at Gauteng, and without an offer of a new one, he took a part-time job in a retail clothing firm Coach

Ray Jennings Raymond Vernon Jennings (born 9 August 1954) is a former South African cricketer. He was one of South Africa's leading wicket-keepers during the suspension of the South African national team from international cricket during the apartheid era. ...

offered him a place in the team on a pay-as-you-play basis, and de Bruyn returned to first-class cricket. In the 2003–04

SuperSport Series The CSA 4-Day Domestic Series is the domestic first class cricket competition of South Africa. The tournament is contested by teams from all nine provinces of South Africa. First contested as the Currie Cup from 1889–90, the tournament has u ...

, after a missable first innings, de Bruyn top scored with 169 to help Easterns claim the title for the first time. Z de bruyn 100

His first-class batting average prior to this was a meagre 29.61, while his batting average since is over 40. In 2003–04 he became only the second player in South African cricket, after

Barry Richards Barry Anderson Richards (born 21 July 1945) is a former South African first-class cricketer. A right-handed "talent of such enormous stature", Richards is considered one of South Africa's most successful batsmen. He was able to play only four ...

, to score 1000 domestic first-class runs in a season, in either the

or the Currie Cup. De Bruyn's

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

debut came against

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

in November 2004. He played in both Tests in the South Africans tour of India, scoring his career best Test score of 83 in the first innings of the first Test. He kept his place in the squad for the home series against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, playing in the first Test; but was subsequently dropped for the return of

Jacques Kallis Jacques Henry Kallis (born 16 October 1975) is a South African cricket coach and former cricketer. Widely regarded as one of the greatest cricketers of all time and as South Africa's greatest batsman ever, he is a right-handed batsman and righ ...

. In

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

, he joined

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

as a Kolpak player. During this time, he failed to impress; his first-class wickets costing almost a hundred runs each, and only a late season century against

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

rescuing his batting average. He was part of the

Titans In Greek mythology, the Titans ( grc, οἱ Τῑτᾶνες, ''hoi Tītânes'', , ''ho Tītân'') were the pre-Olympian gods. According to the ''Theogony'' of Hesiod, they were the twelve children of the primordial parents Uranus (Sky) and Ga ...

squad that shared the 2005–06

. The following season, he moved to the

Warriors A warrior is a person specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based warrior culture society that recognizes a separate warrior aristocracies, class, or caste. History Warriors seem to have be ...

, but was limited to only five first-class appearances. In 2007–08, he posted his best bowling figures of 7/67 against previous club Titans. In both 2006–07 and 2007–08, he was a losing finalist in the

MTN Domestic Championship The CSA One-Day Cup (formerly known as the Standard Bank Cup, the MTN Domestic Championship, and the Momentum One-Day Cup) is the premier domestic one-day cricket competition of South Africa, its matches having List A status. Matches are usuall ...

. In April 2008 de Bruyn signed for

as a Kolpak player. He remained with them for the 2009 season, leading the team in

Twenty20 Cup The T20 Blast, currently named the Vitality Blast for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Twenty20 cricket competition for English and Welsh first-class counties. The competition was established by the England and Wales Cricket Board (E ...

runs. In June 2009, it was announced that de Bruyn had signed for the

Lions The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphic; adult ...

. On 3 December 2010, it was announced that de Bruyn had signed a one-year deal at

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

as a Kolpak player. After this season he could obtain a British passport. de Bruyn was released by Surrey at the end of the 2013 season. In April 2014 he announced his retirement from playing the game.''Daily Telegraph'', page S19, "Sport in Brief", 9 April 2014.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:De Bruyn, Zander 1975 births Living people Surrey cricketers South Africa Test cricketers South African cricketers Easterns cricketers Gauteng cricketers Somerset cricketers Titans cricketers Warriors cricketers Worcestershire cricketers Surrey Cricket Board cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Abahani Limited cricketers