10 Interesting facts about Justin Ontong

Started off as a batsman, Justin Lee Ontong went to bowl some effective off-breaks soon into his career. He has been an outstanding performer in the domestic circuit but unfortunately, couldn’t represent his country long enough to impress. Here we take a look at some of the interesting facts about Justin Ontong.

1. Born and brought up:

Justin Lee Ontong was born on January 4, 1980, Paarl, Cape Province.

2. Major Caps:

He represented South Africa, Africa XI, Boland, Cape Cobras, Lions and South Africa A.

3. First-class career:

Ontong began his first-class career with Boland, making his debut in February 1998 against Natal in Paarl. He scored 10457 runs from 173 matches at an average of 41.33. He has 23 centuries and 60 fifties to his credit.

4. List A career:

He played 240 games and plundered 5110 runs at an average of 28.87. He has registered 33 fifties and a century. He has also scalped 72 wickets.

5. Test call:

Ontong made his debut against Australia at Sydney in the year 2002. He played two Test matches for South Africa, scoring 57 runs. He also picked up a wicket to his credit.

6. Twenty20:

Ontong has played 126 T20 matches, scoring 1710 runs along with three fifties. He has also scalped 30 wickets.

7. Maiden call up:

Following brilliant form for Cape Cobras in the 2011-12 season, he got a national call-up to South Africa’s Twenty20 and 50-over side against New Zealand, at the expense of the experienced Graeme Smith.

8. Explosive hitter:

Ontong has a massive strike rate of 144.95 in T20 international cricket. He has 158 runs from 14 matches.

9. Controversy:

After the selectors chose Jacques Rudolph ahead of him to play against Australia in 2002, they were overruled by Percy Sonn, then president of the UCB. Sonn insisted that Ontong, a Cape Coloured, play instead of Rudolph as part of South Africa’s racial quota policy, and Ontong made his Test debut at the SCG.

10. Last outing:

He last played a Test match against India in the year 2004 at Kolkata. He represented the colored clothing last in the year 2012 against England.