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A feature by Karthik Narayan

The name Jonty Rhodes is synonymous with backward point that position in the cricketing field that has few peers to compare. In fact, only after Jonty’s retirement only we start to think about the other brilliant fielders - Ricky Ponting, Herschelle Gibbs, Chris Harris, Yuvraj Singh and others throwing themselves at full stretch at the most coveted Point position.

Our Flying Machine was born as Jonathan Neil Rhodes on 26 July 1969 ( 26th July...wait a sec. that's also the day when I was born!), in the city of Pietermaritzburg in Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa, with 2 brothers who were also actively involved in cricket. He was a promising cricketer early in his life, yet cricket wasn't his only love. It was just his first love, he loved it more! He was an excellent soccer player and also received provincial colours for hockey and eventually won South African colours for hockey and cricket. He was selected to join the South African hockey team at the Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992 he would have been the first South African to play in two different international events in different sports, in the same year.

Jonty Rhodes' debut in International Cricket was a glorious chapter in Cricketing History, as people witnessed the INFAMOUS run out. And it was a World Cup match against Pakistan in March 1992 played at Brisbane. There were question marks about his inclusion in the National Team in such an important series as the World Cup. Moreover this was South Africa’s first ever World Cup since their return to Cricket. And Jonty showed the whole world just what he had in his pouch: CLASS of the finest order! The dangerous Inzamam ul-Haq was at the crease for Pakistan when he discovered just how good Rhodes is in the field.That run out swooping onto a ball from his position at backward point, Rhodes raced Inzy, who had ventured down the pitch, to the crease, beating him, with his right arm holding the ball and extended like Superman, with a dive that knocked all the three stumps out of the ground. It is still part of cricketing folklore and the much talked about photograph in cricketing circles. Now that has made Jonty the very image of South African cricket.

There was an article in a South African newspaper that screamed to life with these words, "Water covers 67 per cent of the earth's surface - Jonty covers the rest." that about summed it all up! A real livewire in the field, setting high standards for fielding. Later on, Jonty was made a regular in the Test Side. He is the most capped ODI player South Africa has ever produced, a massive 245 ODIs.

He holds the World Record for most dismissals by a non-wicketkeeper in a One Day International, after taking five catches against the West Indies in the Hero Cup match in Bombay in 1993/94. He made his Test Debut in November 1992 on his home ground of Kingsmead against India and proceeded to play in 52 tests before retiring from the Test Arena in November 2000. Rhodes piled up over 2500 runs at a healthy average of 35.66, scoring three centuries and 17 fifties along the way. And each one of these three 100’s were truly world class: each one has a story to tell by itself; his first century came on a viciously turning track in Sri Lanka, and he saved the test with his teeth gritting knock. His second came at the Mecca of Cricket, Lord’s, against the English in June 1998 which helped SA coast to a win. In fact he opened in that innings for South Africa. And of course his third and sadly, the final century came in January 1999 against the West Indies, an unbeaten innings of 103, off just 95 balls, the fastest century by a South African in terms of balls faced.

In One Day Internationals, his career graph would not show much of hundreds. He was more of the 50s man, and each such fifty would be at a rapid pace, laced with both orthodox and unorthodox shots. This was mostly because of the fact that he would come in at No.5. And invariably he would come in the slog overs and slog it out for a quick pulse running score, eventually a team man to the core. Where other batsmen were running one, he would pick up twos. Where others were running two, he was running three, keeping the fielders under huge pressure.

Jonty wasn’t the most technically perfect batsman. In fact, senior players considered him as the poorest No.5 batsman in the game. His inclusion in the South African National Team was a surprise to many. His strength was his footwork; he was quick on his feet against the spinners. As a batsman, he began his international career with some shortcomings in his technique, but managed to work those out to become a top-class international player. He would be unorthodox, pull, hook and even the reverse sweep. In fact, he at the fag end of his career made this reverse sweep a dangerous weapon in his batting kitty, thus making bowlers think twice when bowling to him!

Arguably, he and Michael Bevan of Australia would be the fastest runners between the wickets. There isn’t any better fielder, one of the game's greats! A true legend on the cricket field, a guy who wore his heart on his sleeve. His strength was his fitness; he was at his peak of fitness at all times. There was rarely an occasion of him getting injured. He was agile in the field, and showed great character in his games. All this despite suffering from reflexive epilepsy - a condition that renders him unconscious if struck on the head. He was truly an inspirational figure for any cricketer, and he would keep constantly chatting and lauding on his fellow team members.

His final retirement was hastened by an inopportune finger-fracture early in the 2003 World Cup. It's very sad that he had to retire, but one would have expected a fairytale close to that great man's career. A true South African legend, a cricketer extraordinaire, no doubt; the whole world will miss him surely. He won the hearts of all fans all around the world. A salute, kudos from Cricketfundas.com to this gentleman cricketer who has smiled his way into all our hearts!
 

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