Top 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Justin Lee Ontong
Justin Lee Ontong started off as a batsman, but then also added offbreaks, quicker balls and wrong’uns to make himself a more useful cricketer. Adept in any position in the batting order, Ontong is a fighting cricketer who can play pace and spin, a committed fielder and a handy spin bowler.
Justin Ontong made both his Test and ODI debuts at the young age of 21 but it is only recently that he has established himself as a member of the limited overs squads. A return to Test cricket may also be just around the corner following the outstanding form he has shown in the last few seasons of Sunfoil Series four-day cricket.
He is particularly effective in the ODI arena where he is a good finisher, is one of the best fielders in the country and is a useful back-up spin bowler.
Here’s a list of things you may have or may have not known about Justin Lee Ontong:
- Justin Lee’s nickname is Onters.
- Justin Lee Ontong Born and raised in Paarl
- currently plays domestic cricket for the Cape Cobras. He has played two Tests, 26 One Day Internationals and two Twenty20 Internationals as an all-rounder.
- Ontong began his first-class career with Boland, making his debut in February 1998 against Natal in Paarl.
- He toured Pakistan with the South Africa under-19 team in February 1999, and then Ireland and Scotland with the South Africa Academy later that year.
- He played for a South African Invitation XI against the touring England team in January 2000, and was a member of the South Africa A squad that went to the West Indies in August and September 2000.
- His first elevation to the full South African squad came with the tour of the West Indies in early 2001, where his quiet demeanour earned him the nickname “Rowdy” from his team-mates.
- Justin Lee Ontong made his international debut in the first ODI in Jamaica, scoring 11 at number nine and bowling five overs. He went on to play in six of the seven matches in the series, but recorded just 13 runs and two wickets in total.
- Four years after making his first-class debut, Ontong got an opportunity to make his Test debut, in Sydney in January 2002, but the occasion was mired in controversy.
- Justin Lee Ontong is currently captain both of the Nashua Mobile Cape Cobras franchise and South Africa A which is further evidence of his growing maturity as a cricketer.
