Cricinfo - Players and Officials

Full name Johan Botha
Born May 2, 1982, Johannesburg, Transvaal
Current age 26 years 162 days
Major teams South Africa, Africa XI, Border, Eastern Province, Warriors
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm offbreak

Batting and fielding averages

Mat

Inns

Runs

Ave

100

Tests

45.00

137

32.84

ODIs

208

17.33

269

77.32

T20Is

28*

36.00

128.57

First-class

2388

32.27

List A

872

55*

20.27

1154

75.56

Twenty20

154

28*

10.26

149

103.35

Bowling averages

Mat

Inns

Balls

Runs

Wkts

BBI

BBM

Ave

Econ

Tests

225

178

2/57

2/75

44.50

4.74

56.2

ODIs

1392

1097

3/34

47.69

4.72

60.5

T20Is

1/8

23.33

6.36

22.0

First-class

6996

3510

117

6/42

30.00

3.01

59.7

List A

3689

2787

4/32

38.70

4.53

51.2

Twenty20

630

621

4/19

24.84

5.91

25.2

Career statistics

Test debut

Australia v South Africa at Sydney, Jan 2-6, 2006 scorecard

Last Test

Bangladesh v South Africa at Dhaka (SBNS), Feb 22-25, 2008 scorecard

Test statistics

ODI debut

India v South Africa at Hyderabad (Decc), Nov 16, 2005 scorecard

Last ODI

England v South Africa at Cardiff, Sep 3, 2008 scorecard

ODI statistics

T20I debut

Australia v South Africa at Brisbane, Jan 9, 2006 scorecard

Last T20I

South Africa v West Indies at Johannesburg, Jan 18, 2008 scorecard

T20I statistics

First-class debut

2000/01

Last First-class

Lions v Warriors at Johannesburg, Oct 2-5, 2008 scorecard

List A debut

2000/01

Last List A

England v South Africa at Cardiff, Sep 3, 2008 scorecard

Twenty20 debut

Eastern Cape v Western Province Boland at Port Elizabeth, Apr 13, 2004 scorecard

Last Twenty20

Warriors v Eagles at Port Elizabeth, Apr 13, 2008 scorecard

Johan Botha's is an interesting case. He began his career as an ordinary medium pacer for the Eastern Cape Warriors - by his own admission he was quicker than 125 kmph - but it was after Mickey Arthur, the South Africa coach, had a look at him in the nets and saw something else that Botha dropped his ambitions for speed. Spurred by Arthur's comments that he would do well to turn to spin, Botha remodeled his action and began studying the art of the doosra - the ball that turns away from the right-handed batsman - in hopes of emulating the wiles of Harbhajan Singh. A successful tour of Sri Lanka with the South Africa A side - in which he took key wickets as well as scoring runs - saw Botha's name penciled in as a potential spinning allrounder.

A determined, fiercely competitive individual, Botha found a place in the squad to tour India for a five-match one-day series after Nicky Boje pulled out over security concerns in regard to charges of matchfixing. His debut - in the first match at Hyderabad - resulted in 31 runs from six overs with the wicket of Irfan Pathan, bowled through the gate. Both Arthur and Graeme Smith rated him highly and saw him as vital to South Africa's progress towards the World Cup. But his career came to a grinding halt when his action was cited on his Test debut in January 2006, and following testing at the University of Western Australia, he was banned by the ICC. Botha reworked his action but it was confirmed once again in September that he bent his arm more than 15 degrees. However, after another review in November, Botha's action was cleared by the ICC. He made his comeback during the 2007 Afro-Asia Cup and returned to the South African one-day team during the tour of Pakistan in 2007-08.
Jamie Alter August 2008

Sep 2, 2008

Johan Botha faces the press as South Africa aim to avoid a 5-0 whitewash © Getty Images

Aug 31, 2008

Andrew Flintoff whacks Johan Botha over the top © Getty Images

Aug 29, 2008

Mark Boucher congratulates Johan Botha on the wicket of Ian Bell © Getty Images

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