Top 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Ryan McLaren

Ryan McLaren’s debut for the Proteas was delayed for at least a year by his county commitments to Kent and, in fact, he might have made his debut even earlier after taking 50 domestic first-class wickets in the 2006-07 season. He opted to play for Kent in 2007 and only became available for the Proteas in 2009.

In his brief Proteas’ career he has represented the national side in all three formats. The 2013 calendar year has been his most successful in ODI cricket. He finished the fourth leading wicket-taker with 45 dismissals. This enabled him to break into the top 20 in the ICC bowling rankings.

He has also become a reliable No. 7 batsman.

He has South Africa’s best ever bowling figures in Twenty20 cricket with a return of 5/19 against the West Indies in 2010.

Here’s a list of things you may have or may have not known about Ryan McLaren:

1. Ryan McLaren’s nickname is Mac
2. Ryan McLaren was born and raised in Kimberly.
3. He is a left-handed batsman and a right-arm medium-fast bowler.
4. He made his first-class debut for Free State (now called Eagles) in October 2003, taking two wickets and scoring 25 runs.
5. He had also appeared eight times for South Africa Under-19’s, during the 2001–02 Under-19 World Cup.
6. Ryan McLaren signed a contract with Mumbai Indians to play in the Indian Premier League T20. Although he did not feature in the 2009 edition, he played a bigger role in making his team reaching the finals. He also won man of the match against Royal Challengers Bangalore on 17 April; he scored 40 while opening with Sachin Tendulkar and took 1 for 21 with the ball.
7. After not being bought during the auction in 2011, Ryan McLaren was chosen by Kings XI Punjab as a replacement player after Stuart Broad and Dimitri Mascarenhas pulled out due to injury.
8. He was bought in the 2013 Indian Premier League player auction by Kolkata Knight Riders for a sum of USD 50,000.
9. He also took a hat trick for Kent in the final of the 2007 domestic T20 to help them to the title.
10. Australian destroyer Mitchell Johnson has broken Ryan McLaren’s arm  back in February’s first Test against the Proteas at Centurion, Johnson struck McLaren in the side of the helmet with a vicious blow which left the 31-year-old bleeding from the ear.