Jacques Rudolph      

With an unbeaten 222 in his debut Test innings, Jacques Rudolph vindicated those who believed that he had been a victim of reverse discrimination in South African cricket. His record-breaking, unconquered 429-run stand for the third wicket with Boeta Dippenaar in Chittagong was a delivery of promise long after he had forced his way into the South African squad in November 2001 by sheer weight of runs in domestic cricket. A left-handed batsman who stands tall at the point of delivery with an upraised bat, Rudolph has pleasing footwork, balance and favours the cover drive. His Test debut was balm to the wounds Rudolph suffered leading up to his first entry to international cricket. Twice he was in line for his Test debut, and twice politics intervened. His first international experience came during the unofficial match at Centurion against India in 2001-02, in the aftermath of the Mike Denness affair. And two months later he was named in the side to face Australia at Sydney, but the UCB Board president Percy Sonn vetoed his selection on the grounds of racial discrimination, and Justin Ontong made his debut instead. He fought back strongly, if undemonstrably - an unbeaten 102 saved South Africa from defeat in a classic at Perth at the end of 2005, but 125 runs from six further innings, against the same opposition in a 3-0 whitewash at home, did little to boost his claims.

In January 2007, he decided to move to Yorkshire on a three-year Kolpak deal, suspending his international career with South Africa in the hope of redeveloping his game. At the end of his first season with the club, he extended the contract to keep him at Headingley until 2011 but was released a season early after wanting to return home. Though he returned to Yorkshire as an overseas player in the second half of 2011 he couldn't do enough to prevent them being relegated and signed as Surrey's overseas player for the following year. In his first season back in South Africa, he was the leading run-getter in the SuperSport series, scoring 954 runs in 17 innings for the Titans. His form continued into the 2011-12 season and he was rewarded with a recall to the South Africa Test squad for their home series against Australia.
ESPNcricinfo staff