South Africa’s aggressive left-arm pacer Wayne Parnell was born on this day (July 30) in 1989. Parnell managed to be an intimidating figure for the opposition with his stock deliveries that swung into the batters at quick pace. However, with inconsistency and injury problems, Parnell did not enjoy much success at international level.
Born in Port Elizabeth, the 35-year-old made his first-class debut for Eastern Province in October 2006. In just his fifth first-class match, Parnell took a hat-trick against Western Province. He was a member of South Africa’s Under-19 squad for the 2006 World Cup in Sri Lanka and went on to captain the team in the 2008 edition held in Malaysia.
Parnell led the team from the front with 18 wickets and finished the tournament as the leading wicket-taker. He had also chipped in with some useful runs, making him an ideal candidate for Player of the Tournament. His performances at junior level impressed the national selectors and he was picked in the ODI and T20I squads for the 2008–09 tour of Australia.
Although he represented the Proteas in all three formats, he has played only six Test matches so far in his career. He has taken 15 wickets in red-ball cricket. In the limited-over format, the southpaw has played 73 ODIs and 56 T20Is, in which he has grabbed 99 and 59 wickets respectively. He has two five-wicket hauls in ODIs and one in the shorter format of the game.
Parnell has played for many teams in competitions around the world. He made his Indian Premier League (IPL) debut with Delhi Daredevils in the 2010 edition but did not play a single match for them during the season. His last appearance in the IPL was in 2023 season for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). Parnell, who has played 33 matches in the cash-rich league so far, has taken 35 wickets at an economy rate of 7.78. Notably, he went unsold in the IPL auction 2024.
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