Born July 27, 1969: Jonty Rhodes, former South African batsman

Image Credits: Twitter/@ICC

Former South African batsman Jony Rhodes, who appeared in a total of 297 international matches for his national side during his cricketing career, was born on this day in 1969.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) took to its official Twitter handle and extended warm birthday greetings to Rhodes, who turned 51 on Monday.

Posting a picture of Rhodes, the world's cricket governing body described the former Souh African batsman as 'one of the greatest fielders of all time' besides also listing down his career stats.

"52 Tests, 245 ODIs, 8,467 international runs, 139 catches, Holds the record for the most number of catches in a single ODI. Happy birthday to one of the greatest fielders of all time, Jonty Rhodes!," the ICC tweeted.

 52 Tests, 245 ODIs
 8,467 international runs
 139 catches
Holds the record for the most number of catches in a single ODI

Happy birthday to one of the greatest fielders of all time, Jonty Rhodes! pic.twitter.com/75l67eK1lk

— ICC (@ICC) July 27, 2020

Rhodes made his international debut for South Africa with a One-Day International (ODI) match against Australia in February 1992.

In the same year in November, the former South African player received his maiden Test cap during a clash against India at Kingsmead in Durban.

He went on to amass 2,532 runs in 52 Tests and 5,935 runs in 245 matches he played in the 50-over format for his national side.

Besides this, Rhodes also notched up 9,546 runs in 164 first-class games besides scoring 8,907 runs in 371 List-A matches.

Regarded as one of the greatest fielders of all time, Rhodes was the first player from his country to grab 100 catches in the ODI format. He is also known for hitting reverse sweep shot and he smashed the first reverse sweep shot for a maximum.

Meanwhile, Rhodes had also played hockey for South Africa. He was also named in the South African hockey squad for the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, but the side did not qualify for the showpiece event.