Andre Nel
Encyclopedia
André Nel is a South African cricketer
who played Test cricket
and ODIs as a fast bowler
but has since retired opting to play county cricket
for Surrey
.
he took 6/32 to go with his first innings 4 wickets. This gave him his first 10 wicket haul in Test cricket and he was subsequently named man of the match.
Nel went on to take 14 wickets during his side's tour of Australia later in 2005, finishing the year with 36 victims at 20.72.
He has constantly troubled Brian Lara
in Test cricket, having dismissed him on no fewer than 8 occasions.
In the first test of the Bank Alfalah
Test Series versus Pakistan in Karachi
, Nel became the 11th South African to reach the milestone of 100 dismissals in Test cricket, when he dismissed the Pakistani nightwatchman
, Mohammad Asif on 5 October 2007.
In early 2008, coloured paceman Charl Langeveldt
was controversially selected in the Test team for tour of India, at the expense of Nel. This was widely believed to be due to an order from Cricket South Africa to select more non-white players in the team as part of its transformation policy, rather than performance. Langeveldt declined his selection, citing the controversy over the selection, and Nel was reported to have been considering retirement.
He announced his retirement from international cricket on 25 March 2009.
, making his debut for the 2005 and 2006 Pro 40
Champions against the side he first experienced the English game with, Northamptonshire
.
He also had a brief spell in the North Lancashire and Cumbria Premier Division, playing as a professional for Millom.
, an Indian Premier League
franchise. He joined the Mumbai Indians
as a replacement to West Indian cricketer, Dwayne Bravo
, who returned home for national duty after the game against Deccan Chargers
on 18 May 2008.
Code of Conduct breaches during his career.
In February 2001 he hit the headlines after bursting into tears when he felled Allan Donald
with a fiery bouncer in a domestic first-class match. It emerged later that he had been following instructions from his coach Ray Jennings
to target Donald. Later in the year during the tour of the West Indies he, along with four other teammates, was found guilty of smoking marijuana.
During 2003 he was sent home from a South Africa A tour of Australia after being pulled over for drink driving.
During the 2005 Boxing Day Test match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground he was the subject of racial taunts, in Afrikaans, from fans in Bay 13
.
His enthusiastic and aggressive approach on the field also gets him into trouble and he was notably brought before the match referee
for making offensive facial gestures to Chris Gayle
and subsequently fined half of his match fee. He is also known to be verbally aggressive towards batsmen. This behaviour came to back to bite him during India's First Test on their 2006 tour of South Africa, when he verbally admonished Sreesanth, an Indian bowler, after Sreesanth had trouble evading a delivery targeted at his upper-body. Nel gestured to his heart, indicating that he felt Sreesanth lacked courage. The very next ball Sreesanth charged Nel and hit him for a six and danced around him in joy and defiance.
Often referred to as a gentle giant off the field, Nel has attributed his eccentric onfield behaviour to his alter ego
an oxygen starved mountain man known as Gunther.
It was revealed that Nel had had an extra-marital affair with Jelena Kultiasova while he was playing cricket in England.
On 1 October 2010, Nel attempted suicide after three more women, one of them a prostitute, told of having slept with him.
Cricketer
A cricketer is a person who plays the sport of cricket. Official and long-established cricket publications prefer the traditional word "cricketer" over the rarely used term "cricket player"....
who played Test cricket
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
and ODIs as a fast bowler
Fast bowling
Fast bowling, sometimes known as pace bowling, is one of the two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket. The other is spin bowling...
but has since retired opting to play county cricket
County cricket
County cricket is the highest level of domestic cricket in England and Wales. For the 2010 season, see 2010 English cricket season.-First-class counties:...
for Surrey
Surrey County Cricket Club
Surrey County Cricket Club is one of the 18 professional county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Surrey. Its limited overs team is called the Surrey Lions...
.
International career
In January 2005 against England he took 6/81 in the first innings of the Test. These remained his best innings bowling figures until South Africa's tour of the West Indies in April 2005 when in the 3rd Test at Kensington OvalKensington Oval
The Kensington Oval is located to the west of the capital-city Bridgetown on the island of Barbados. "The Oval" is one of the major sporting facilities on the island and is primarily used for cricket...
he took 6/32 to go with his first innings 4 wickets. This gave him his first 10 wicket haul in Test cricket and he was subsequently named man of the match.
Nel went on to take 14 wickets during his side's tour of Australia later in 2005, finishing the year with 36 victims at 20.72.
He has constantly troubled Brian Lara
Brian Lara
Brian Charles Lara, TC, OCC, AM is a former West Indian international cricket player. Lara is generally regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all time...
in Test cricket, having dismissed him on no fewer than 8 occasions.
In the first test of the Bank Alfalah
Bank Alfalah
Bank Alfalah Limited is a private bank in Pakistan owned by the Abu Dhabi Group. Bank Alfalah was incorporated on June 21, 1992 as a public limited company under the Companies Ordinance 1984. Its banking operations commenced from November 1, 1992...
Test Series versus Pakistan in Karachi
Karachi
Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...
, Nel became the 11th South African to reach the milestone of 100 dismissals in Test cricket, when he dismissed the Pakistani nightwatchman
Nightwatchman (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a nightwatchman is a lower-order batsman who comes in to bat higher up the order than usual near the end of the day's play...
, Mohammad Asif on 5 October 2007.
In early 2008, coloured paceman Charl Langeveldt
Charl Langeveldt
Charl Kenneth Langeveldt is a South African ODI and Test cricketer. He is one of four Cape Coloureds in the South African side, with the others being Herschelle Gibbs, JP Duminy and Ashwell Prince....
was controversially selected in the Test team for tour of India, at the expense of Nel. This was widely believed to be due to an order from Cricket South Africa to select more non-white players in the team as part of its transformation policy, rather than performance. Langeveldt declined his selection, citing the controversy over the selection, and Nel was reported to have been considering retirement.
He announced his retirement from international cricket on 25 March 2009.
County Cricket
After the 2007 World Cup, carrying a highly aggressive and respected reputation, Nel joined the English County of EssexEssex County Cricket Club
Essex County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Essex. Its limited overs team is called the Essex Eagles, their team colours this season are blue.The club plays most of its home games...
, making his debut for the 2005 and 2006 Pro 40
National League (cricket)
The NatWest Pro40 League was a one-day cricket league for first-class cricket counties in England and Wales. It was inaugurated in 1999, but was essentially the old Sunday League retitled to reflect the fact that large numbers of matches were played on days other than Sunday.-Sunday League:The...
Champions against the side he first experienced the English game with, Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire County Cricket Club
Northamptonshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Northamptonshire. Its limited overs team is called the Northants Steelbacks. The traditional club colour is Maroon. During the...
.
He also had a brief spell in the North Lancashire and Cumbria Premier Division, playing as a professional for Millom.
Indian Premier League
André Nel has been signed by Mumbai IndiansMumbai Indians
Mumbai Indians , is a franchise cricket team representing Mumbai in the Indian Premier League. The team is one of the eight founding members of the IPL in 2008. Mumbai Indians are currently led by Sachin Tendulkar, who is the Icon Player for the team and is coached by Robin Singh...
, an Indian Premier League
Indian Premier League
The Indian Premier League is a professional league for Twenty20 cricket competition in India. It was initiated by the Board of Control for Cricket in India , headquartered in Mumbai, and is supervised by BCCI Vice President Rajeev Shukla, who serves as the league's Chairman and Commissioner...
franchise. He joined the Mumbai Indians
Mumbai Indians
Mumbai Indians , is a franchise cricket team representing Mumbai in the Indian Premier League. The team is one of the eight founding members of the IPL in 2008. Mumbai Indians are currently led by Sachin Tendulkar, who is the Icon Player for the team and is coached by Robin Singh...
as a replacement to West Indian cricketer, Dwayne Bravo
Dwayne Bravo
Dwayne James John Bravo is a West Indian cricketer. A right-handed pace bowler, Bravo is expected to play a significant role in attempts by the West Indies to return to international prominence in the sport....
, who returned home for national duty after the game against Deccan Chargers
Deccan Chargers
Hyderabad Deccan Chargers known in short as DC or 'Chargers' is a cricket franchise that represents the city of Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League...
on 18 May 2008.
Controversies
Nel has been involved in controversies both on and off the field and he has been fined for a number of ICCInternational Cricket Council
The International Cricket Council is the international governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from England, Australia and South Africa, renamed the International Cricket Conference in 1965, and took up its current name in 1989.The...
Code of Conduct breaches during his career.
Allan Donald
Allan Anthony Donald is a former South African cricketer and one of their most successful pace bowlers.In his prime, he was one of the best fast bowlers ever seen in Test cricket, reaching the top of the ICC Test rankings in 1998 and peaked with a top ICC ranking of 895 points the next year, the...
with a fiery bouncer in a domestic first-class match. It emerged later that he had been following instructions from his coach Ray Jennings
Ray Jennings
Raymond Vernon Jennings is a former South African cricketer. He was one of South Africa's leading wicket-keepers during the apartheid era....
to target Donald. Later in the year during the tour of the West Indies he, along with four other teammates, was found guilty of smoking marijuana.
During 2003 he was sent home from a South Africa A tour of Australia after being pulled over for drink driving.
During the 2005 Boxing Day Test match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground he was the subject of racial taunts, in Afrikaans, from fans in Bay 13
Bay 13
Bay 13 is a section of tiered seating at the Melbourne Cricket Ground that occupies part of the Great Southern Stand behind the slips for a right-handed batsman, usually where third man is fielding...
.
His enthusiastic and aggressive approach on the field also gets him into trouble and he was notably brought before the match referee
Match referee
A match referee is an official appointed to oversee professional cricket matches. Match referees for Test matches and One Day Internationals are appointed by the International Cricket Council...
for making offensive facial gestures to Chris Gayle
Chris Gayle
Christopher Henry "Chris" Gayle is a Jamaican cricketer who currently plays international cricket for the West Indies. He captained the West Indies' side from 2007 to 2010. He plays domestic cricket for Jamaica, and has also represented Worcestershire, the Western Warriors and the Kolkata Knight...
and subsequently fined half of his match fee. He is also known to be verbally aggressive towards batsmen. This behaviour came to back to bite him during India's First Test on their 2006 tour of South Africa, when he verbally admonished Sreesanth, an Indian bowler, after Sreesanth had trouble evading a delivery targeted at his upper-body. Nel gestured to his heart, indicating that he felt Sreesanth lacked courage. The very next ball Sreesanth charged Nel and hit him for a six and danced around him in joy and defiance.
Often referred to as a gentle giant off the field, Nel has attributed his eccentric onfield behaviour to his alter ego
Alter ego
An alter ego is a second self, which is believe to be distinct from a person's normal or original personality. The term was coined in the early nineteenth century when dissociative identity disorder was first described by psychologists...
an oxygen starved mountain man known as Gunther.
It was revealed that Nel had had an extra-marital affair with Jelena Kultiasova while he was playing cricket in England.
On 1 October 2010, Nel attempted suicide after three more women, one of them a prostitute, told of having slept with him.