| Personal information | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Batting style | Right-hand bat | |||
| Bowling style | Right-arm medium | |||
| Career statistics | ||||
| Competition | Tests | ODIs | ||
| Matches | 35 | 89 | ||
| Runs scored | 2007 | 2559 | ||
| Batting average | 33.45 | 29.41 | ||
| 100s/50s | 4/13 | 2/18 | ||
| Top score | 163 | 161 | ||
| Balls bowled | - | 6 | ||
| Wickets | - | - | ||
| Bowling average | - | - | ||
| 5 wickets in innings | - | - | ||
| 10 wickets in match | - | n/a | ||
| Best bowling | - | - | ||
| Catches/stumpings | 36/- | 18/- | ||
| Source: Cricinfo, 17 January 2006 | ||||
Andrew Charles Hudson (born 17 March 1965 in Eshowe, Natal) was a South African Test and ODI cricketer. The right-handed batsman played 35 Tests and 89 One Day Internationals for South Africa in the 1990s. His career spanned 16 consecutive summers, playing for both his country and his province KwaZulu-Natal. Although his career statistics do not match up to the best, he was a treat to watch as he played the square cut, cover drive and pull exceptionally well.
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Hudson made his Test debut against the West Indies in Bridgetown on 18 April 1992. The South African side was led by Kepler Wessels and it would be a one off Test for the side who had just returned from Test exile. The West Indian bowling lineup was strong with Patrick Patterson, Curtley Ambrose, Kenny Benjamin and Courtney Walsh. In a stunning nine hour innings, Hudson was unfazed by the West Indian fast bowlers and scored 163. He brought up his hundred by pushing Jimmy Adams for a single to mid-on and became the first ever South African to score a Test century on debut. The feat would not be emulated until Jacques Rudolph scored 222 not out against Bangladesh some nine years later. Hudson's innings ended when he was clean bowled by a yorker from Benjamin and the South Africans would go on to lose the game by just 53 runs. He also recorded a duck in the game, one of only three cricketers to have scored a hundred and a duck on their Test debuts.
It was a career that started in the best possible way but ended with a form slump that led to an average which was not a true reflection of the impact that he had on the game of cricket. His average had been above 40 for a long time but after his last Test match, against Pakistan in 1997-98 was at a career low of 33.
Hudson was at his best against Australia whom he scored 481 runs against at 43.73. His only century against them came in 1993/94 against the likes of Craig McDermott, Shane Warne, Merv Hughes and Glenn McGrath.
Hudson opened the batting with Gary Kirsten in 22 of his 35 Tests and together they put on 1289 runs at 32.23. Their highest stand came in November 1996 at Eden Gardens where they put on 236 runs for the first wicket. Hudson fell just short of his highest Test score, bowled by Venkatesh Prasad for 146.
Arguably his most famous match apart from his debut came a month later against the same opponents in Kingsmead. Hudson was man of the match with his innings of 80 and 52 on a juicy track as he helped the South Africans to win the game by 328 runs. The 80 came in a team total of 235 and the second highest score of the innings was just 35. His 80 was also more than the entire Indian team scored in their second innings.
His final year in first-class cricket came in 2000/01 and was restricted by the quota system as he played just four matches for his province.[1]
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