Kepler Wessels

Born on September 14, 1957, Kepler Wessels is one of the few players who represented two countries (South Africa and Australia) in international cricket.

Interestingly, Wessels was the number one U-16 Tennis player in South Africa. However, after shattering losses in major tournaments, he shifted his focus to cricket. 

At 18, Wessels started to play for the Sussex County team and was impressive under his County captain, Tony Greig after his string of impressive scores.

The influential media tycoon Kerry Packer wanted the Australian team to have a solid opening combination in the World Series Cricket (WSC) and in this pursuit, he called Wessels to play for the Aussie team. 

The Bloemfontein-born could not turn down the offer and made himself available to feature in the tournament organized by Packer. It was majorly due to South Africa getting banned from international cricket. 

In December 1982, the talented batter made his Test debut against England and returned with knocks of 162 and 46. He was named Player of the Match as well. 

Wessels hit his career-best red-ball score of 179 against Pakistan in December 1983. 

After lifting of the ban on South Africa, the 64-year-old scored a fifty in his first limited-overs fixture for Proteas against India in November 1991. 

The following year, the Protea-Aussie cricketer became the first red-ball captain for South Africa.

Wessels last played for the green and gold in October 1984 and finished with 6155 runs in 149 appearances, comprising seven centuries. 

Wessels later coached the Chennai Super Kings team in the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). 

As of July, 2022