South Africans have enriched county cricket for decades ... and continue to do so, despite the havoc caused to the 2020 English summer by the coronavirus. Van der Bijl was already 31 when he arrived in London - and as a relative unknown in cricketing terms there, considering South Africa's pariah status from the rest of the world at the time. Van der Bijl didn't take long to get busy in the wickets column: on Championship debut against the Rice- and Hadlee-infused Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge, he bagged four for 62 in the first innings of a drawn affair. But with Van der Bijl just as valuable at one-day level, Middlesex also completed the first-time outright "double" by grabbing the Gillette Cup into the bargain. Again it was Surrey playing bridesmaids, as they were beaten by seven wickets in the Lord’s final in the autumn, Van der Bijl earning typically economical figures of 12-0-32-1.

Source: News 24 June 11, 2020 16:41 UTC