Aubrey Faulkner

Aubrey Faulkner was in a league of his own and arguably the best all-rounder of his era. Unconventional with the bat in hand, his leg spin had enough deceit to bamboozle the best of batsmen. Hailing from Port Elizabeth, Faulkner entered the First-class scene as a 21-year old, debuting for Transvaal. The initial seasons weren't sensational but he kept progressing steadily and a breakthrough season in 1905-06 when he was at his all-round best, saw him getting into the Test side. From then on, there was no looking back for Faulkner who became a mainstay of the South African team throughout his career. Such was his panache that Wisden termed him 'the best all-rounder in the world' during the early part of the 20th century.

A very difficult childhood saw him enroll for the South African army and that led him to Transvaal from where his cricketing journey eventually started. After a highly successful cricketing career, Faulkner took to coaching and despite his own unorthodox ways as a batsman, remained a reputed mentor for several batsmen across the country. Later on, he started a cricket school, a medieval version of the modern day Academy but it ended up as a loss-making venture which eventually saw him nosedive into depression. The pain was such that it ended with him committing suicide. It was a shocking end to one of South Africa's absolute greats of the game.

By Hariprasad Sadanandan