Jackie du Preez, the Zimbabwe-born South Africa cricketer, has died in Harare. Du Preez, 77, had been ailing due to a heart condition.
Born in pre-independence Zimbabwe, then known as Rhodesia, in 1942 in Salisbury, the present-day Harare, the wrist-spinning du Preez played two Test matches for South Africa, during Australia’s 1966/67 tour of the country.
Having already taken a 2-1 lead at the end of the third Test, South Africa brought in du Preez for the final two games. The first innings in the fourth Test was uneventful, with both bat and ball, for du Preez, who didn’t turn his arm over and was dismissed for a duck.
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But he picked up the wickets of Bob Cowper and Keith Stackpole in the Australian second innings, as the match ended in a draw. Du Preez went wicketless in ten overs across the two innings and bagged another duck in the first innings, in South Africa’s series-clinching seven-wicket win in the fifth Test in Port Elizabeth.
Du Preez was also a veteran of 120 first-class games, in which he scored 4063 runs, including a century, at 23.76, in addition to 296 wickets at 31.07, with a best of 8-92.
