Johan Botha (cricketer)

Johan Botha (born 2 May 1982 in Johannesburg, Transvaal Province, South Africa) is an off spin bowler and lower order batsman who plays cricket for The Chevrolet Warriors at provincial level, the Rajasthan Royals in the IPL and for South Africa at national level.

Early career

Botha began his career as an ordinary medium pacer for the Eastern Cape Warriors - by his own admission quicker than 125 km/h. It was only after Mickey Arthur, the former coach of the national team, had a look at him in the nets and saw potential as a spinner that Botha dropped his ambitions for speed. Spurred on by Arthur's comments that he would do well to turn to spin, Botha remodeled his action and began studying the art of the off spinner and doosra in hopes of emulating the likes of Muttiah Muralitharan and Harbhajan Singh. A successful tour of Sri Lanka with the South Africa A side - in which he took key wickets as well as scoring runs - saw Botha's name penciled in as a potential spinning all-rounder.

ODI debut

A determined and fiercely competitive individual, Botha found a place in the squad to tour India for a five-match one-day series after Nicky Boje pulled out over security concerns in regard to charges of match fixing. He played in the first match at Hyderabad and produced a spell of 31 runs from six overs with the wicket of Irfan Pathan, bowled through the gate. Both Arthur and Graeme Smith rated him highly enough to see him as a vital part of the sides world cup......
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