Great Week on the International Stage for Gray Nicolls

No brand scored more runs in the recent T20 series between South Africa and Australia. JP Duminy, 67 & Wayne Parnell have starred for SA whilst Captain Cameron White, Dave Hussey, Shaun & Mitchell Marsh and David Warner all contributed well for Australia. When Mitchell Marsh made his debut, following in the footsteps of Father, Geoff, and Brother, Shaun, he continued the Marsh/Gray-Nicolls partnership into a fourth decade. Geoff scored over 7000 International runs for Australia in 160 appearances.

International Captains Brendan Taylor and Alastair Cook have started their respective series’ against New Zealand and India well. Cook scored 60 in the first ODI and Taylor scored 128* & 107* in the first two games of the three match series at home for Zimbabwe. In doing so he became the first Zimbabwe to score back to back centuries in One Day International cricket.

Taylor’s 128* came from 120 balls and he became the 16^th Gray-Nicolls International centurion of the year. Angelo Matthews has also continued his recent good form with the bat with runs in the 1^st innings of the 1^st Test match against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi.

Opening batsman Jacques Rudolph, who played the last of his 35 Tests in August 2006, has been recalled to the South Africa Test squad for the two-match series against Australia.  Rudolph went into a self-imposed exile in 2007 when he signed a Kolpak contract with Yorkshire with the aim of developing himself into a more complete cricketer. His recall was widely expected following an impressive return to South African domestic cricket. He scored four centuries and made more than 900 first-class runs last season, before leading a successful South Africa A tour to Zimbabwe. This year, he came into the South African season after scoring centuries for Yorkshire in the Clydesdale Bank 40 and the County Championship. He has since been prolific in the Super Sport Series, where he leads the run-charts with 568 runs from six innings, including a match tally of 297 against Lions in his most recent outing. "Jacques [Rudolph] will open the batting with Graeme Smith," selection convener Andrew Hudson said. "His experience and current form make him an asset to South Africa and at the age of 30 he has plenty of good years of cricket ahead of him. Jacques has underlined once again the importance of good domestic form and the fact that it is the gateway to national selection."