থান্ডি শাবালালা

Tshabalala comes from Welkom - a mining town 150km north of Bloemfontein. He started off his career with Free State and as a top-order batsman. However, he got more recognition as a finger spinner. Though he did not have a great start to his first-class cricket, Tshabalala made up for that with consistent performances in limited overs cricket. He was the leading wicket-taker in the domestic T20 competitions in the first two seasons.

The selectors named him in the T20 squad for the Australia series in February 2006, but he did not play a single game. He finally got a chance in an ODI against Ireland at Stormont in June 2007. He played 4 matches and picked up 3 wickets, his economy was also on the higher side. With Paul Harris being a regular in the Test side and Botha in the ODI side, Tshabalala found it difficult to hold onto his place.

by Akshay Maanay

As of May 2014