Born in 1969 in Pietermaritzburg, Jonty Rhodes
was mostly unknown outside his home province of Natal until
he stamped himself on the consciousness of world cricket at
the Gabba on March 8, 1992 when he dived headfirst into the
stumps to run out Inzamam-ul-Haq and halt a Pakistan surge
towards victory. The moment was captured by a photographer
and within 24 hours the picture had been flashed around the
world. Life was never quite the same for Jonty from that point
on… As a Test player Rhodes marked time in the mid-1990s until
he made a triumphant return to the side during the 1998 tour
of England with a century in South Africa's 10-wicket victory
at Lord's. In the one-day side, however, Rhodes has been virtually
ever-present, his ability to make quick runs and rotate the
strike in the middle order matched only by his extraordinary
fielding at cover point.
It will be as a fielder that Rhodes will be remembered,
someone who changed the nature of the art and inspired young
players worldwide to start diving about in the outfield, dirtying
their whites and irritating their mothers no end. As a junior,
Rhodes was a wonderful footballer and his prowess at hockey
was such that had South Africa qualified for Barcelona in 1992,
he might well have played at a cricket World Cup and an Olympics
in the same year. Now one of South Africa's elder statesman,
Rhodes' fielding has lost little of its sharpness and he is
a more accomplished batsman these days, capable against both
pace and spin. He missed South Africa's tour of India in 2000,
staying at home to support his wife Kate through the birth
of their first child, but now that he is back in the harness,
there seems no reason why he should not play in his fourth
World Cup in 2003.
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