Follow UsThe saga of New Zealand cricketers born and sometimes even brought up in South Africa wearing the Blackcaps is likely to continue. Bevon Jacobs, a hard-hitting six-footer, has been named in the New Zealand squad for the T20 tri-series in Zimbabwe, featuring South Africa as the third team.
New Zealand’s first match is against South Africa, and that could also be the debut game for Jacobs, who was also bought by the Mumbai Indians (MI) in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Jacobs has so far had a very brazen but positive start to his career. After becoming the fifth highest run-getter in the Super Smash 2024-25, New Zealand’s premier T29 tournament, he was drafted into the national squad for the home series against Sri Lanka, but did not get to play.
However, he was drafted into the ILT20, the UAE’s premier T20 tournament, and caught the eye of MI scouts. Without even playing a single game in the IPL, he now has a Caribbean Premier League (CPL) contract with Antigua and Barbuda Falcons.
Jacobs will become only the third player to be born in South Africa and debut for New Zealand against South Africa in international cricket.
Kruger van Wyk (2012), Colin Ingram (2012) and Glenn Phillips (2017) are the other South Africa-born New Zealand cricketers who made their international debuts against South Africa.
Beaming at the prospect of making his debut against the country of his birth, Jacobs, in an interview with ESPNcricinfo, said, "I still like to see myself as a Kiwi. I've been here for a very long time. But, yeah, I guess that part of it would be pretty cool if that were to be my debut against South Africa.”
"I'm sure a lot of family who are over in South Africa and just my family that are here would find that pretty cool,” added the man whose family moved to New Zealand when he was three years old.