When someone asks that who would be that one floating middle order batsman that you would want in your team, names like, Yuvraj Singh, Michael Hussey, Suresh Raina, Michael Bevan, Paul Collingwood, AB de Villiers and MS Dhoni are at the forefront. Amidst, all these big names, there’s one man who has silently contributed to the South African side throughout his career. The name is Duminy, Jean Paul Duminy!
JP made his international cricket debut in 2004 for South Africa as a 20 year old youngster when he featured in an ODI against Sri Lanka at the R. Premadasa Stadium. It was only 4 years later, that he got a chance to don the white kits for South Africa. He made his test debut in December 2008 against Australia at the WACA.
Although Duminy made his ODI debut in 2004, it was in this series in 2008 against Australia when his career saw a rising graph. An injury to Ashwell Prince meant Duminy’s test debut and he didn’t disappoint at all. He scripted a historic win for South Africa in the first test by scoring a sublime 50 not out as South Africa chased a monumental 414 in the fourth innings. In the next test of the series, JP went one step ahead and scored a phenomenal 166 in a situation when South Africa were left reeling at 184/7. South Africa clinched that series. Beating Australia in their own backyard was a huge deal back in the 2000s.
Duminy couldn’t keep up with his consistency in the longest format of the game but his white ball heroics were absolutely commendable. He shot into prominence in T20 cricket when he first featured in the IPL in 2009. He went on to play in the Champions League T20 later that year and ended up as the highest run scorer for Cape Cobras with an average of 112 and a strike rate of 140.
Along with his batting, he was also a handy part-time bowler who was pretty useful for South African captains whenever they wanted to get through some quick overs and probably, also get a wicket or two!
He has been a regular feature in South Africa’s limited overs campaigns over the years. Scoring 5117 runs in 199 ODIs at an average of 36.81, Jean-Paul Duminy has been a dark horse of South African ODI team. His numbers in T20Is are no exception. He has scored 1934 T20I runs at an average of 38.68 and a remarkable strike rate of 126.24.
Today, JP Duminy bids adieu to all forms of cricket at the age of 35. His career, spanning 16 long years saw him serve South African Cricket with utmost respect and honesty!
Thank you JP!!
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