Cricket South Africa | Player Profile

Alviro Nathan Petersen

Alviro Petersen made his ODI debut as far back as 2006 against Zimbabwe and then had to wait another two years for another chance on the tour to Bangladesh in 2008. It looked as though he might never gain regular international recognition until he scored almost 1 400 first-class runs during the 2008-09 season.

He continued to shine at domestic level and his weight of runs earned him a Test debut against India in 2010 at Eden Gardens, one of the great grounds of the world. No doubt inspired by the occasion he became the third Protea to score a century on Test debut (after Andrew Hudson and Jacques Rudolph). Although he is only a part-time bowler he also took a wicket in his first over in Test match cricket later the same year in the West Indies.

He and Graeme Smith formed a solid and dependable opening partnership for the Proteas until Petersen had to make way for Jacques Rudolph at the start of the 2011/12 season. However, his domestic form as well as for South Africa A earned him a recall and he re-launched his international career with a second Test century against Sri Lanka and a third in New Zealand.
He then played a career-defining innings of 182 in the second Test against England at Headingley in 2012 that also took his career average into the 40s. During that series he completed 1 000 Test runs and has already made more than 500 runs in the 2012 calendar year.