Former South African batsman Jacques Rudolph picks his best player ever in every cricket category

As the world stays in a standstill due to the outbreak of the global pandemic of COVID-19, many cricketers are using this time to reveal their sporting related thoughts. Over the past few days, we have seen many cricketers reveal their best XI or share their throwback memories from the sports. Former South African batsman Jacques Rudolph also came up with a whole list where he picked his favourites.

In the list released by South Africa Cricket Mag, Rudolph named almost pick that one could have. According to him, the best player ever was the Proteas legend and all-rounder, Jacques Kallis. Well, that’s one pick which won’t disappoint anyone. He named Graeme Smith as the best captain but Smith shared the title with Gerald Dros.

In the category of the best captain he has played against, he named former Australia captain Ricky Ponting. He named Andrew Flintoff and James Anderson as his favourite seam and swing bowler respectively while the fast bowler’s title went to Pakistan’s Shoaib Akhtar.

Jacques Rudolph picks AB de Villiers as the best fielder

AB de Villiers got two titles by Rudolph, one that of the best fielder and one that of the best innings. The two have played for the Titans in domestic cricket for a significant amount of time and share a good bond. He picked the Sri Lankan Muttiah Muralitharan and Kumar Sangakkara as the best spinner and the best batsman he has played against respectively. He also gave a shared title of the best coach to Eric Simons and Gary Kirsten.

Jacques Rudolph was one of the most talented batsmen in the South African domestic circuit for several years. He played 48 tests for South Africa from 2003 to 2012. The left-handed batsman scored 2,622 runs in whites. The batsman has also played 45 ODIs scoring 1174 runs and just one T20I where he scored unbeaten six runs.

Here’s the full list:

Best player ever: Jacques Kallis

The best captain played against: Ricky Ponting

Best captain: Graeme Smith/Gerald Dros

Seam bowler: Andrew Flintoff

Swing bowler: James Anderson

Fast bowler: Shoaib Akhtar

Spinner: Muttiah Muralitharan

Best batsman: Kumar Sangakkara

Best innings: AB de Villiers

Best wicketkeeper: Kruger van Wyk

The big hitter: Albie Morkel

The blocker: Andrew White

Best No 11: Paul Harris

Best catcher: Martin van Jaarsveld

Best arm: Marchant de Lange

Top fielder: AB de Villiers

Best sledger: Pierre de Bruyn

Best coach: Gary Kirsten/Eric Simons

Favourite ground: Scarborough (Yorkshire)

Joker: Anthony McGrath

Favourite partnership: Henry Davids

Take to war: Roelof van der Merwe.