Cricket: Rudolph is ready to shine

Jacques Rudolph is returning to test cricket. Photo / Getty Images

Of all the South African players coming to New Zealand for the three test series, Jacques Rudolph probably has the most to play for - and the best reason to be confident as he makes a belated return to the international game.

Next month Rudolph will return to play tests in a country where he starred in 2004. He topped the test averages with 84 from six innings batting at No 3 in what was then a South African side struggling to maintain their place in world cricket.

They lost their first test away to New Zealand (not even Rudolph's unbeaten 154 in the second innings at Auckland could save them); veteran Gary Kirsten was about to retire after playing 101 tests by series end; the team had a new and sometimes vulnerable captain in Graeme Smith; they battled with the extra pressure of needing to fulfil a quota-based selection system.

The current South African side Rudolph slots into at No 6 are in vivid contrast. A 3-0 series victory would take them to No 1 in the world; issues with the quota system have largely been resolved; Kirsten is now the coach; and Smith is one of the most respected captains in the game having been in charge for 88 of his 96 tests. In the meantime, the career of Rudolph has come full circle. Now 30, he was recalled to the South African test squad for the recent series against Australia and Sri Lanka after a five-year self-imposed absence from the international game. He got starts but struggled to convert in seven innings as an opener (159 runs at 22.71) before being moved to No 6 and posting 51 not out in the third test against Sri Lanka at Cape Town.

With Kirsten promising to give players extended chances to establish themselves in the test order, Rudolph can expect to be given most of the New Zealand tour to bed in.

Rudolph's weight of runs returning to the SuperSport four-day competition in 2010-11 put his name back in the selectors' minds. He topped the run charts, scoring 954 runs in 17 innings for the Titans franchise. Last week it earned him a place back on South Africa's list of 22 contracted players for the coming season.

That contrasts with a decade ago. Rudolph was set to debut in the third test against India in November 2001 but the match was only given first-class status in the wake of the Mike Denness affair. Match referee Denness provoked a political storm by fining six of the Indian team for misconduct in the second test.

It created such a diplomatic drama that the third test was declared void. Two months later Rudolph had another opportunity stymied by what many felt was reverse discrimination. The then president of the South African board Percy Sonn vetoed Rudolph's selection against Australia in Sydney allowing coloured player Justin Ontong to start instead. Rudolph went on to make 222 not out debuting against Bangladesh in 2003.

But his place in South African cricket seemed lost when he signed what ended up being a four-year deal with English county Yorkshire. It meant he revoked his rights to play for the Proteas under a complex legal clause known as the Kolpak rule.

That meant he could play for Yorkshire on the basis of his South African heritage but could avoid being classed as an overseas player. Rudolph continued to play for the county under that rule - with the downside being that he could not play for South Africa in the meantime.

Now he has the chance to keep writing this new chapter, starting with a return to test cricket on March 7 in Dunedin.