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Fanie de Villiers, with his scuttling run-up and slingy action, won one
of the greatest Test matches ever. Australia needed just 6 runs for
victory at Sydney in 1993-94 when Fanie took a return catch off last man
Glenn McGrath. He took 6-43 in that innings and 4-80 in the first, yet
it was only his second match. Despite being recognised as one of the
best bowlers in South Africa and being a crowd favourite Fanie had been
ommitted from the first Test teams on the country's return to
international cricket after the apartheid era. Perhaps selectors were
influenced by his failure to impress when he joined Kent for a season in
the English County Championship in 1990.
He was rarely omitted again
until the rise of Shaun Pollock in 1995-96. When Australia played the
return series in 1993-94 De Villiers took 4-117 in the Cape Town Test.
He toured England in 1994, taking 4-62 at the Oval. When New Zealand
came to South Africa in 1994-5 he took 4-52 in the second innings of the
Johannesburg Test, 5-64 in Durban and 5-61 in Cape Town. Later, in the
one-off Test against Pakistan in Johannesburg he took 6-81 and 4-27. He
played briefly in India in the tour that followed England's visit to
South Africa in 1995-96, and later turned to a series of fund raising
events for charity, including sitting on top of a floodlight tower for
the duration of a Test match.
He enlivened 12th man duties on his
Australian tour by sending drinks to the middle in a remote-control toy
car. The appearance of 'Fanie's car' became a great favourite with
crowds, and team-mates found excuses to send it to the middle during
intervals when he was playing. (Bob Harragan)
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