The world still remembers Jony Rhodes’ flying gesture to run Pakistan’s Inzamam-ul-Haq out in the 1992 World Cup match in Australia. He has left playing cricket a while ago but the South African still remains the benchmark of fielding in the modern-day game. But while the 50-year-old still remains the cricketing world’s favourite when it comes to fielding, what about his own preferences?
Rhodes, who played his last international game during South Africa’s disappointing campaign in the 2003 World Cup at home, works as fielding coach and mentor nowadays and he recently picked the current best fielders.
The South African veteran picked New Zealand’s Martin Guptill and India’s Ravindra Jadeja among the best fielders currently. But he regarded Guptill as his favourite.
“Jadeja doesn’t get enough cricket time. Guptill is playing every game. Guptill is great in the slips, great in the covers, great in the boundaries. He is a great all-round fielder, Jadeja has got the X factor. There are really good fielders out there but Guptill for me stands out,” the fielding legend told Indian Express during an interaction in Chennai.
Rhodes also recently conducted a series of fielding drills with his coaching partner in Sri Lanka.
In a video, that went viral on social media, Rhodes was involved in a drill in which he showed his fielding skills to the young cricketers.
Former Dutch-South African cricketer Ryan Maroon had posted a video on Twitter and wrote, “He may be 50 years old but he still has it! Been another amazing chapter mentoring and coaching 500 plus amazingly talented and gifted cricketers over this past week in Colombo – Kandy – Negombo with ama sports”.
Glad the person filming the drill was not focused on the stumps @ryammaron1 1 out of 5 hits #nothinghaschanged https://t.co/wsQePjSpL9
— Jonty Rhodes (@JontyRhodes8) September 1, 2019