Johan van der Wath

Johannes Jacobus van der Wath (born 10 January 1978) is a South African former cricketer who played Limited Over Internationals.

Johan van der Wath

Personal information
Full name	Johannes Jacobus van der Wath
Born	(1978-01-10) 10 January 1978 Newcastle, Natal Province, South Africa
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Right-arm fast-medium
Role	Bowling Allrounder
International information
National side	South Africa (2006–2007)
ODI debut (cap 83)	20 January 2006 v Australia
Last ODI	26 August 2007 v Zimbabwe
T20I debut (cap 24)	24 February 2006 v Australia
Last T20I	20 September 2007 v India
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1995–1997	Easterns
1997–2011	Free State
2003–2014	Knights (squad no. 5)
2005	Sussex
2007–2009	Northamptonshire (squad no. 24)
2010	Canterbury
2011	Royal Challengers Bangalore
Career statistics
Competition ODI FC LA T20 Matches 10 121 175 109 Runs scored 89 3,790 2,418 862 Batting average 14.83 24.77 24.42 16.57 100s/50s 0/0 3/21 0/11 0/0 Top score 37* 154 91 48* Balls bowled 526 20,729 7,697 2,185 Wickets 13 419 216 108 Bowling average 42.38 25.45 28.19 25.58 5 wickets in innings 0 22 0 0 10 wickets in match 0 1 0 0 Best bowling 2/21 7/60 4/26 4/24 Catches/stumpings 3/– 35/– 39/– 13/–
Source: ESPNcricinfo, 31 October 2021

Playing style

Van der Wath is an attacking right-handed batsman who usually bats in the lower middle order coming in and increasing the strike rate. He is also an aggressive right-arm medium-fast bowler who regularly takes wickets with the new ball.

Domestic career

South Africa

Van der Wath started his career off in 1995 with the Easterns in South Africa where he played one One Day match. The following year he made his first class debut but only played one more match after that before joining Free State for the beginning of the 1997 South African season. He scored his highest first class score of 113* in 2002 while playing for Free State. After 7 seasons with the club he joined the Eagles. It was here where he produced performances good enough for the Protea selectors to take notice of him and in his second season he made his international debut. He was banned from playing in South Africa when he joined the Indian Cricket League.

England

While still playing in South Africa, he joined Sussex in 2005 as an overseas player for the English season playing in 17 matches altogether. He then joined his second English county in 2007 playing for Northamptonshire, but didn't finish the season after being called up by South Africa for the World Twenty20, and he was replaced by Nicky Boje (who next year became captain). The next year his was signed as a Kolpak player, however just before the season started he was banned by the ECB for playing in the now defunct Indian Cricket League (ICL) alongside four other players including Northampton's new signing Andrew Hall. A month later after an appeal, he and Hall were allowed to play again, a spokesman said it was an "unlawful, unreasonable, capricious and discriminatory" ban. During that year, Johan recorded his best first class figures of 7/60 and took 43 wicket altogether that season. In 2009, he was an important team member of the Northants Steelbacks Twenty20 Cup squad that got to the finals day at Edgbaston. During the group stages he won the match against Worcestershire Royals scoring the 22 needed in the last over that kept Northamptonshire's winning run going. That season proved to be Johan's best season at Northants as he took over 50 first class wickets and scored just under 500 runs. Van der Wath and Riki Wessels were unable to play for the county in the 2010 season.

Indian Cricket League

Van der Wath only played two seasons of the Indian Cricket League before cancelling his own contract. He played for the Mumbai Champs alongside fellow international cricketers Nathan Astle, Tino Best and Michael Kasprowicz. He played 23 matches with a highest score of 43* against Ahmedabad Rockets and his best figures were 3/24 versus Chennai Superstars.

For the 2011 season he has joined Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL.

International career

He played for Under 19's South African team in 97 making two appearances against Pakistan, making the step up to 'A' cricket four years later, playing up until 2006. Although Johan never played test cricket, he was a regular in the Protea one day side between 2006 and 2007 playing 10 ODI's and also 8 international Twenty20 matches. It was during this period in one of the matches, he scored a quick fire 35 from 18 balls on the way to the World Famous Chase of 434 against Australia. His debut came when Jacques Kallis was injured during the VB Series in Australia, and played his first game at the Telstra Dome, in Melbourne. He retired from International Cricket in 2007 after South Africa also banned him due to him playing in the rebel Indian Cricket League. Two years later though, Johan along with Northants teammate Andrew Hall were allowed to play for their country again after ending their contracts with the ICL before the deadline of 31 May 2009 set by Cricket South Africa.

External links

• Johan van der Wath at ESPNcricinfo