Kepler Wessels

He was an all-rounder, most noted as a left-handed opening batsman but also useful as a right arm off spinner and medium pace bowler.

He played First Class Cricket for a variety of teams. In his native South Africa, Wessels played for Orange Free State, Western Province, Northern Transvaal, Eastern Province and Griqualand West. In Australia he played for Queensland, and in England he played for Sussex.

1984/85 West Indian Tour of Australia

In Test Cricket, Wessels' most successful period came during the disastrous 1984-1985 West Indian tour of Australia. After scoring only 13 and 0 in the First test, Wessels was in danger of being dropped from the Australian side. However, due to the poor performance of almost all of Australia's batting in that match, he was retained for the Second Test. He responded by being out for 0 second ball, and many people thought that his career was over. In the second innings, however, he top scored with 61, giving the selectors no option but to include him for the Third Test. Batting up number 3, Wessels top scored again with 98 runs in the first innings and 70 in the second, in a match where the Australian batting was being taken apart by the West Indian bowlers.

The Fourth Test saw Wessels continue his heavy scoring, with 90 and 0 helping Australia force a draw. It was in the Fifth Test, however, which saw him totally dominate the West Indian bowlers with 173. His batting helped Australia to 9 (declared) for 471, which was a winning total on a wicket that was taking spin.

Wessels scored 505 runs at an average of 56.11 against the West Indies, which was more than double the amount of runs scored by any other Australian batsmen during that series. Given the dominance of West Indian bowling at the time, and the fragility of the Australian batting line-up, Wessels' performance during that series was world class.

Finishing up with Australia

Unfortunately, Wessels was unable to maintain his form during the 1985 Ashes Tour of England. Although he scored three fifties (top score 83), Wessels ended the series with 368 runs at an average of 33.45. While this was not a failure, it was certainly below his best.

It is likely that the rebel tour to South Africa affected Wessels' attitude during the 1985 Ashes tour. Because of his South African background, Wessels was seen by many players and officials as one of the major contacts for the Rebel Tour amongst the Australian players. While he has steadfastly denied this, former Australian Cricket Captain Allan Border expressed his firm belief in a number of books he wrote about the period.

Wessels final match for Australia was the First Test against New Zealand in Brisbane, 8-12 November 1985. Wessels was alone in resisting the devastating bowling of Richard Hadlee, scoring 70 out of Australia's first innings total of 179. He scored only 3 in the second innings, with Australia suffering its heaviest defeat against New Zealand.

Soon after the match was finished, Wessels announced his retirement, expressing his disillusionment with Australian cricket. Little did he realise that only 4 years later he would be playing Test Cricket again, this time for his home nation.

External links

• Statistics.
• Career overview.