Dave Nourse was inspirational in many ways and for his evergreen presence in first-class cricket, rightly termed as the 'Grand old man of South Africa' as he played till the age of 57. A left-handed batsman with more spunk and grit than flair, he represented the country in 45 Tests and was a fairly reliable man, particularly during crunch situations. He was also a very accurate left-arm medium pacer and finished with over 300 FC wickets to his name. His batting was again impactful in gargantuan proportions, over 14000 runs and 38 centuries although the three-figure mark came only once in Test cricket. Nevertheless, he was a vital cog of South Africa's batting throughout his career that spanned over two decades.

Born in England at the climes of Surrey, Nourse came to South Africa as a teenager due to his passion for serving the Army. Instead, he fell in love with cricket and saw himself carving a niche in the history of South African cricket. An enterprising knock of 72 against Australia on his Test debut set the ball rolling and his only Test century also came against the same opponents. While Nourse gave a lifetime to cricket, his exploits as a battle hardened soldier was also a legend in the country. He took upon himself multiple duties and carried them all out with the same effortless ease. Dave's son Dudley also represented South Africa. The father-son duo also played together towards the fag end of Dave's career.

By Hariprasad Sadanandan