Jacques Rudolph is happy to be playing for the Proteas - Cricket News Update
South African batsman, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Jacques-Rudolph-c1619, admitted that he was close to falling out of love with the game before a fruitful stint in the English County circuit revitalized his career, allowing him to make a push for a place in the national team.
Last November, Rudolph made an impressive return back in the South African side after staying away from Test cricket for more than five years.
The middle-order batsman was only 22 when he made his debut for South Africa against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747 and despite a flying start to his Test career as he struggled to establish himself at international level.
In 2007, after falling out with his homeland and its cricket quota system, he took up a three-year contract to join English county Yorkshire as a Kolpak player, and six seasons later, finally decided to head home for one last chance to represent his country.
"At the time when I came over here I was in a tough place and needed to rediscover my love of the game," he said.
“http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Yorkshire-c867 gave me the opportunity and in hindsight I must say it's possibly some of the memorable years in my career so far. I got thrown into international cricket at a young age and it was nice to be in such surroundings and I became more mature as a
batsman,” he added.
On his return to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757, the Transvaal player hammered 954 runs in 17 innings in his very first season and remained the highest run-scorer in the SuperSport series. The 31-year-old carried on his form during the 2011-12 season and was finally rewarded
with a Test recall for the series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746.
Rudolph believes that his time with the county cricket has helped him regain his confidence, and he feels happy to be back in the team and is keen to play the game he always loved.
"I wasn't too sure what my future would hold with South African cricket. The natural progression was I fortunately scored runs and here I am today," the Proteas batsman said.
The middle-order batsman is pretty familiar with the playing conditions at Headingley and wants to share his experience with his teammates, which could prove significant ahead of the second Test match against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c749 starting from Aug 2.
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