Top 5 left-handed South African Test openers of all time

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South Africa is the third oldest cricketing nation in the world, having started playing Test cricket back in 1889 and over the course of their stellar history, the team has produced plenty of excellent opening batsmen.

The greatest of them all was Barry Richards, who missed out on international cricket due to the boycott that was in place for close to two decades.

Richards was a right-handed batsman but the exercise of this article is to have a look at some of the best left-handed opening batsmen that the country has ever had.

The left-handed opening batsman is perhaps not spoken of often enough but many of such openers from South Africa have gone on to become greats. Here are 5 of the very best.

#5 Jacques Rudolph

The left-handed batsmen was primarily a number 3 batsman for South Africa from 2003 to 2012, during the course of which he played 48 Tests but in 6 of those Jacques Rudolph opened the batting for his country.

There is no doubt that it is a small sample but there are not many left-handed opening batsmen who have actually represented the country and played more Tests than him. Rudolph's free-flowing stroke-making and a decent defensive technique came in handy in those Tests. He did not do too badly and in fact, averaged 35.33 in those 6 Test matches in which he opened the innings.

Rudolph made 318 runs as an opener and although he did not score a century, he did score a 95 not out. He made two half-centuries.

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