Diego Costa, Pepe, Thiago Motta – all these champion footballers have one thing in common. They were born in one country, even represented their country of birth at the international stage, but later changed their nationality to play international football and helped their respective teams win against their country of birth.
Costa is a Brazilian by birth, but is better known to have played for Spain at the international stage. Pepe again is a Brazilian by birth, but has represented Portugal internationally, and Motta, another Brazil-born, even played for the ‘Selecao’ at the 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup but it is Italy that he earned his name for.
On Sunday, Stephan Myburgh, Colin Ackermann, Roelof van der Merwe and Brandon Glover – all South Africa-born cricketers– joined forces along with seven other Dutchmen to vanquish the Proteas in the T20 World Cup.
Stephan Myburgh (Born: Pretoria, South Africa): The 38-year-old explosive opening batter had played at the Northerns – a South African first-class team – along with Heino Kuhn, Alviro Petersen and Neil Wagner, who now represents New Zealand in Test cricket. He still holds the record for second fastest half-century (17 balls) in T20 World Cups – a record he achieved in 2014 in Sylhet against Ireland.
Colin Ackermann (Born: George, South Africa): Ackermann was touted as one of the best young batters in red-ball cricket when he played for the Eastern Province. He played for the South Africa U-19 and had topped the first-class averages in the 2016-17 season. He later took the Kolpak route after not getting selected to the South African national team.
Roelof van der Merwe (Born: Johannesburg, South Africa): Van der Merwe not only represented the South Africa U-19 but also played for the senior national team, even at T20 World Cups of the past. Van der Merwe played in the 2004 U-19 WC for South Africa before he made his first-class debut in 2006 for Northerns. In the 2007-08 season, he topped the wicket-takers chart in franchise cricket for Titans. He marked his T20I debut against Australia in 2009. In 2015, he acquired a Dutch passport to forge a new career with the Netherlands.
Brandon Glover (Born: Johannesburg, South Africa): Glover also played for the South African U-19 team. Known to clock speeds over and above the 140kph-mark, Glover left SA after a call from Netherlands coach Ryan Campbell, who convinced him to put his Dutch passport to good use after he had finished his accounting degree.
All four had a massive impact on Sunday’s match against South Africa. Myburgh smashed 7 boundaries during the Powerplay and helped the Dutch score 48 runs in the first six overs. Ackermann gave the final flourish to the innings, hitting an unbeaten 41 off 26 balls. Van der Merwe contributed significantly by holding on to a brilliant catch, sprinting back from short fine leg to track down a skier to see the back of the in-form David Miller. Glover’s three wickets in two overs was perhaps the most impactful performance of the day.
