Colin Ackermann

An alumnus of the renowned Grey High School, famous for producing sportsmen of all codes for South Africa, batting all-rounder Colin Ackermann excelled even his peers as a schoolboy, and was marked for higher honours when he topped the run aggregates in the South African under-19s red ball competition in 2009. A call up for South Africa under 19s followed, but a senior debut never came and like many of his generation Ackermann would eventually find his way into County cricket. As a dual Dutch-South African national however, he would first take a detour to the Netherlands where he helped Dosti Amsterdam to the Topklasse title in 2015 before being snapped up by Leicestershire ahead of the 2017 season. Staying with the county for the next six years Ackermann proved a reliable performed for the side, averaging over 40 in first class cricket including a top score of 277* against Sussex in 2022, while his unassuming offspin memorably netted him a world record return of 7-18 against the Birmingham Bears in the 2019 T20 Blast. Ackermann took on the Leicestershire captaincy from 2020 until his departure for Durham after the 2022 season, where he will join former Netherlands coach Ryan Campbell and Dutch team-mates Base de Leede and Brandon Glover.

Ackermann’s international debut for the Dutch came ahead of the 2019 T20 World Cup Qualifier, making his first appearance in orange against Ireland at a pentangular warm-up tournament in Oman ahead of the Qualifier. At the tournament itself in the UAE Ackermann played a key role in helping the Dutch win the trophy, scoring 163 runs at an average over 40 while his offspin went for less than a run-a-ball. While his County commitments have at times limited his availability for the Netherlands during the northern Summer, Ackermann is nonetheless a firm feature of the top order in both formats when available. A levelled-headed presence in the field and a dependable performer with the bat, he was vice-captain to Pieter Seelaar at the 2021 T20 World Cup and made his ODI debut a month later against his native South Africa in the opening match of the Netherlands' covid-interrupted Super League tour. Though Ackermann featured in just seven of the Netherlands 26 Super League fixtures, an assured 81 against Afghanistan away his best showing to date, he has been a more regular fixture in the shorter format. Despite missing the 2022 T20 Qualifiers he would return for the 2022 T20 World Cup, memorably top-scoring with 41* in the famous victory over South Africa that secured the Dutch direct qualification for the 2024 edition.