Jacques Rudolph captained Glamorgan at Finals Day at Edgbaston in 2017 – his final summer in professional cricket.
The veteran of 48 Tests, 43 One-Day Internationals and 1 International Twenty20 match for South Africa had joined Glamorgan during 2014 and enjoyed much success with the bat during his first summer in Wales, with the left-hander posting a couple of centuries in Championship cricket, plus three in List A games, including an unbeaten 169 against the Sussex Sharks at Hove as he scored the highest-ever individual score for the Welsh county in one-day cricket.
He took over the captaincy during 2015 and proved himself to be a shrewd leader. He opened the batting in both formats and showed his nous in the T20 game against Gloucestershire at Bristol where, batting throughout the innings, he steadily upped the tempo in the closing overs, unfurling a range of savage blows as he posted a fine century.
2016 saw Jacques’s team reach the quarter-final stages of the T20 competition, before the following year going one step further and clinching a place at Finals Day. It followed a highly successful T20 campaign for Jacques during which he and Colin Ingram shared a match-winning stand of 130 in 11.5 overs against the Sussex Sharks at Arundel Castle, with Jacques playing the perfect foil as his partner romped to a 46-ball hundred. The summer also saw Jacques score his 50th hundred in first-class cricket, but the summer did not see his team lift the T20 crown as they were beaten by the Birmingham Bears in the semi-final.
During his outstanding career, Jacques also played county cricket for Yorkshire, between 2007 and 2011, besides appearing for Surrey in 2012. He now runs a wildlife centre and travel business in South Africa.
RUDOLPH, Jacobus Andries
Born – Springs, Transvaal, 4th May 1981.
Best performances for Glamorgan:
In first-class cricket – 142 v Cardiff MCCU at The SSE SWALEC, 2017; 1/5 v Gloucestershire at Bristol, 2016.
In List A cricket – 169* v Sussex at Hove, 2014; 1/32 v Surrey at Guildford, 2014.
In T20 cricket – 101* v Gloucestershire at Bristol, 2015; 2/8 v Hampshire at The Ageas Bowl, 2015.
| M | I | NO | RUNS | AV | 100 | 50 | CT | ST | |
| First-class | 58 | 105 | 5 | 3141 | 31.41 | 5 | 16 | 39 | – |
| List A | 31 | 28 | 3 | 1197 | 47.88 | 5 | 6 | 4 | – |
| T20 | 57 | 52 | 13 | 1657 | 42.49 | 1 | 13 | 20 | – |
| Balls | M | R | W | AV | 5wI | 10wM | |
| First-class | 266 | 6 | 124 | 3 | 41.33 | – | – |
| List A | 72 | 0 | 82 | 1 | 82.00 | – | – |
| T20 | 144 | 0 | 185 | 3 | 61.62 | – | – |