In 1970, the ICC voted to suspend South Africa from international cricket indefinitely because of its government's policy of apartheid, an overtly racist policy, which led them to play only against the white nations(England, Australia, New Zealand), and field only white players. The ban was lifted in 1991 and after that Proteas never looked back and produce many great players like Jacques Kallis, Graeme Smith, AB DE Villiers and many more.

But it is also a sad fact that only 11 players can represent the nation at one time and with plenty of talent it is not possible that every player gets a chance to play international cricket. So some talented players who didn't get a chance to represent their country migrate and explore their opportunities in other countries. Same is the case with SA, many great players in cricket history were born in SA but served other countries. 

Let's look at such few greats of game.

Top 6 South African Born Players Playing For Other Nations

1. Kevin PIETERSON

Kevin was born in Pietermaritzburg , South Africa. Disenchanted by his chances of succeeding in SA because of a quota system that he felt unduly hindered his chances of progression, Natal- born KP considers leaving his homeland and joining Nottinghamshire. 

He debuted in 2004 for English team and later on also captioned the side. He was a very aggressive batsman and was popular for his style of playing unorthodox cricketing shots. His switch hit was very popular. He represented the side in over 250 games across formats, scoring around 14,000 international runs.

2. Andrew STRAUSS

A legendary player for England, the former skipper too , has South African roots, as he was born in Transvaal Province Of Johannesburg. Hw was of six years when he moved to England.

Strauss is still known as one of the most successful English Captions. His famous Ashes win in Australia was his most celebrated victory till date. He represented English team in over 200 international games across formats and scored over 11,000 international runs. 

Strauss was also formerly Director Of Cricket for the England and Wales Cricket Board.

3. Andy FLOWER

Flower brothers are known as gems of cricket but little anyone remembers that Andy Flower was born in Cape Town, South Africa . He played his first test match in 1992 against India.

Andy is considered to be one of the best wicket keeper batsman. He scored over 11,000 international runs. Although he never helped Zimbabwe win any major title but he helped the side to earn a significant international cricket recognition. He also captioned Zimbabwe for more than 10 years and is statically the greatest batsman the country has ever produced.

4. Jason ROY

 Jason Roy is often credited for the victory of England in World Cup 2019 as when he returned to the side English team bounced back and clinched the title but many of you might not know that he was born in Durban, South Africa. Roy moved to England at the age of 10 and began his cricketing career with Surrey.

Roy is considered to be the most destructive opening batsman in present times in limited overs cricket. He was one of the main reasons that England started playing a new brand of destructive cricket after a heart broke in CWC 2015. He has scored about 5000 runs in limited overs cricket at a mammoth strike rate of above 100. 

5. Marnus LABUSCHAGNE

Marnus is the new sensation in Australian cricket but this right hand batsman is not an Australian by birth. He was born in Klerksdorp, South Africa. He moved to Australia at the age of 10. He began his career with Queensland cricket team and played his first test match in 2018 against Pakistan.

Marnus has scored around 2000 runs till now in international cricket and was also the leading run scorer in the inaugural world test championship.  He averages 55 in test cricket and is one of the finest test batsman in present times.

6. BJ WATLING

Bradley- John Watling was the luckiest person on earth on 23 June 2021 as he was playing his last international match and Black Caps gave him a excellent farewell by winning the inaugural WTC edition. But very few people know that BJ was born in Durban, South Africa. Young Bradley Watling moved to New Zealand at the age of 10.

He made his Test debut in 2009 and after 2012 he is the leading run scorer among all wicket keeper batsman in international cricket. He scored almost 4000 runs in international arena and was one of the pillars of the current new Zealand Cricket team led by Kane Williamson.