Pite van Biljon - New Brighton Cricket and Bowling Club

Pite van Biljon
New Brighton Cricket Club is about to welcome our 2021 overseas professional player Pite van Biljon.
Pite is South African, is 35 years old, is married with a young daughter. He plays cricket for Free State
and Proteas. He’s a right handed batsman, right arm medium bowler and also a wicket keeper but has
hardly donned the gloves for the sides he has played for. In February 2020 he made his T20i debut with
the South Africa cricket team against Australia in Johannesburg. Since then he’s been selected another
nine times, playing against England & Pakistan.

An interesting fact about the family is that his sister Suzaan is an
Olympic breaststroke swimmer having represented South Africa at the
2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2012 London Olympics. She finished
7th at the 2012 London Olympics, making her the only female South
African swimmer to make a final that year. She retired in 2013 as the
African Record holder in the 200 long course breaststroke, with a
2:23.21 done at the 2012 Olympics, as well as the 100 and 200 in
short course breaststroke.

It was whilst on a day off from playing I was able to have a chat with Pite on WhatsApp. He wrote a short
bio of himself and kindly answered a few questions that some of the members had asked.

Here in his own words is his short bio:
“I’ve always played cricket but hockey was my real love. I was probably much better in hockey than
cricket. I got a bursary to go and study at the University of Pretoria, where I did Bcom law. After that I did
my honours in financial planning at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. I currently play for Free
State and Proteas. My hobbies are mountain biking, shooting and walking the dogs. I’ve played and
coached in the UK and the Netherlands for the last 11 years. I prefer having a beer with the members
and team mates after a game rather than going out. I can’t wait to join NBCC as I’ve heard many good
things from an old friend of mine CJ de Villiers who played for you guys”

Questions from members:

James Corbert asked
“How did your first call up come about, how did you find out? Do you feel settled into international cricket
after playing a fair few games now?”
Pite
“Well I think I’ve only played like 9 games. I’ve had one or two good contributions so I feel I can compete
at this level but probably haven’t cemented a spot yet with consistent performances.
My first call up was against England but I tore my webbing in first fielding practice so missed that series
but made my debut vs Australia a week later. I received the call at home after the MSL. I had a pretty
good tournament and my team did well so I guess I was hoping to achieve higher honours”

Danny Johnstone asked
“What’s your favourite alcoholic & non-alcoholic drinks, your favourite film and preferred music genre?”
Pite
“Depends where I am. In SA probably spice gold rum and coke, in the UK probably Guinness. Non
alcoholic…….coffee. Film……there is many but I enjoy sport films or war films. Music……I really like a
wide range of genre, nothing specific.”

Derek Watson asked
“How much experience have you had batting against a Dukes cricket ball? Do you have an interest in
English football & if so which is your favourite team?
Pite
“I’ve played 11 summers in the UK and not sure which balls were used, I know they move around a bit
longer than the Kooka. But, they also stay harder for a lot longer so values for shots is also higher”
“Trick question….ha ha I like Chelsea but I’m more of a rugby guy”

Matt Thompson asked
“Three favourite things you do outside of cricket? Who’s had the biggest impact on your professional
career to date and why? If you had one piece of advice for any young NBCC cricketer, what would it be?
What’s your favourite beer?”
Pite
“Shooting, Mountain Biking and Hiking”
“I would say my Dad. He kept me in the games through tough times”
“Advice would be, keep playing. Take a challenge on to see how good you can be in that moment”
“Favourite beer in UK I assume other than Guinness I would say San Miguel”

Gareth Jones asked
“What is the best sledging you have had said to you?”
Pite
“I’ve been told to go back to Australia and that I’m a shit second grade cricketer…..but I’m from SA so I
found that funny!”

Dave Cook asked
“Are you looking forward to playing in a team with some young cricketers? What are you going to bring in
terms of developing the NBCC talent?”
Pite
“I love working with young guys. What I can bring is a lot of experience on how to handle situations, how
to control your mindset and how to fast track them younger guys to a better understanding of their game”

Pite's career figures as at 28th April are as follows:

Batting & Fielding
       Format         Mat         Inns         NO        Runs        HS        Ave          BF          SR
         T20i          10            8          2          125       42       20.83        101         124
  First Class         108          179         17        6,872      218       42.41     12,554          55
        List A        103           94          8        2,963     167*       34.45      3,560          83
          T20          81           68         18        1,572      75*       31.44      1,203         131

       Format        100s          50s          4s            6s     Ct           St
          T20i          0            0          10             4      1            0
   First Class         18           36         876            56     85            0
         List A         4           14         267            49     25            1
           T20          0            7         108            69     16            0

Bowling: 1 ball in first class cricket which was a dot ball

Debut / Last Matches
T20i Matches
Debut         Australia vs South Africa at Johannesburg - February 21, 2020
Last          South Africa vs Pakistan at Centurion - April 14, 2021
First Class Matches
Debut         North West vs Northerns at Pretoria - October 12 - 14, 2006
Last          Knights vs Cape Cobras at Cape Town - March 16 - 19, 2021
List A Matches
Debut         Northerns vs Free State at Bloemfontein - November 05, 2006
Last          Dolphins vs Knights at Potchefstroom - January 10, 2021
T20 Matches
Debut         Free State vs North West at Bloemfontein - October 16, 2011
Last          South Africa vs Pakistan at Centurion - April 14, 2021

                                                                                  courtesy of www.cricinfo.com

The following are the statistics for Pite playing club cricket in the UK:

Norwich & Coltishall Wanderers
Norfolk Cricket Alliance Premier Division
Batting & Fielding
      Season          Mat        Inns          NO        Runs          HS           Avg
         2010          18          18           1         845         159*          49.7
      Season         100s         50s                                    ct           st
         2010            3          3                                   12             0

                                                                            courtesy of www.cricketarchive.com

Kibworth
Leicestershire & Rutland Cricket League Premier Division
Batting & Fielding
      Season         Mat        Inns       NO        Runs               HS         Avg
           All       101          93        25      4,292              127        63.12
         2019         17          14         2         667             104        55.58
         2018          4           4         1         240             121        80.00
         2017         18          16         4         807            115*        67.25
         2016         22          20         9         912            126*        82.91
         2015         17          17         6         749             112        68.09
         2014          1           1         0           7               7         7.00
         2013         22          21         3         910             127        50.56

      Season         100s          50s          4s          6s           ct           st
          All          11           31         311          63         106           25
        2019            2            5          22          11           8            0
        2018            1            1          27           8           0            0
        2017            3            4          84          18          21            5
        2016            2            8          61          12          20            8
        2015            2            5          31           1          19            3
        2014            0            0           0           0           1            2
        2013            1            8          86          13          37            7

                                                                  courtesy of www.kibworth.play-cricket.com

Pite's coaching qualification is Cricket South Africa Level 2 (ECB Level 3 Equivalent).

Sue Sherratt