Who was the first South African to score a hundred in one-dayers?
(23 October 2001)

When we conducted an impromptu in-house poll, the names that were suggested included those of Adrian Kuiper and Peter Kirsten. But it was neither of them; it was, in fact, a rather staid and conservative batsman who claimed the honour.

The opener in question had a very modest start to one-day cricket. At the Eden Gardens, in the match that saw South Africa step back into international cricket with much fanfare, before approximately 100,000 spectators, he was out caught by the 'keeper for no score off Kapil Dev. The man from the Rainbow nation, while talking about it later, said, "It was such an emotional moment. With a crowd of 100,000 and the haze, it was almost unreal."

Andrew Charles Hudson, for that is our man, was among the first South Africans to find their feet in international cricket. In South Africa's first Test on their re-entry into international cricket, also naturally his debut Test, he made 163. His credentials proved, he quietly bided his time before coming up with a hundred in South Africa's twentieth one-dayer. At Bloemfontein, on December 15 1992, Hudson made 108 while guiding his team to yet another win over the Indians. It was another two years before his long-time opening partner, Gary Kirsten, scored the second one-day hundred for South Africa.

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