Nic Pothas - South Africa - Batsman

An accomplished wicket-keeper batsman, Pothas could be forgiven for considering himself the forgotten man of South African cricket. He started his career at Transvaal in 1993, making his first-class debut against Northern Transvaal. In October 1993, Pothas made his debut in List A cricket against Barbados during Barbados' tour of South Africa.

A regular in the first-class and List A arenas while in South Africa, he was a consistent wicket-keeper batsman, averaging in the mid thirites with the bat and keeping tidily behind the stumps.

Pothas was representing South Africa A in Barbados when he was drafted into the South Africa squad for the 2000 Singapore Challenge as cover for Mark Boucher, who was injured. With Boucher not fit for their next One Day International against Pakistan in Singapore, Pothas made his international debut. He marked his debut by taking two catches and making a single stumping, while scoring 24 runs with the bat.

In 2002, he made his debut for Hampshire in the English county. Since making his debut for Hampshire, he has been at the forefront of one of the county's most successful periods.After his retirement from International Cricket, Pothas took up a role with the Guernsey Cricket Board, where he became the Channel Islands’ first Director of Cricket and first full-time cricket specific coach. It was the presence of Boucher in the South Africa team that acted as a barrier to Pothas representing Proteas more often and indeed progressing to playing Test cricket.