Ashwell Prince, nicknamed ‘Ashy’, is an international cricketer, who was born on May 28, 1977 in Port Elizabeth, Cape Province, South Africa.
This left-handed batsman played his first International Test match in February 2001 against Australia at the Wanderers, in which he top scored with 49. In the third Test match of the series, he again came close to a fifty, scoring 48, an influential knock in his team’s victory. During the 2004-05 season, Ashwell Prince scored his maiden Test hundred with an unbeaten 139 against Zimbabwe. He carried his good form to the West Indies, where he scored another Test century with 131 runs in the fourth Test at Antigua. In the process, Ashwell Prince was also involved in the South African fifth wicket record partnership of 267 with Jacques Kallis. In 2006, in the third Test match of the series against Australia at Sydney, he played a well-constructed innings, scoring 119. In all his first five innings of the series, Ashwell Prince lost his wicket to the legendary leg-spinner, Shane Warne. Later, during Australia’s tour of South Africa in March that year, he was more comfortable against him and went on to score a brilliant 93 in the first innings at Johannesburg.
Ashwell Prince also captained the Test team on the absence of Graeme Smith in July 2006 against Sri Lanka. He was the highest run-scorer of the three-Test match series between South Africa and India, which happened in 2006. His top performance in the series includes a 97 at Johannesburg and a century of 121 at Cape Town. For his impressive performance, he was he was given the South African Player of the Year award for 2006. Ashwell Prince carried his good form to the following home series against Pakistan, in which he scored the only century of the three-Test series. His century of 138 was influential in his side’s victory in the first Test match of the series at Centurion Park. During the 2007-08 West Indies tour of South Africa, Ashwell Prince scored a total of 263 runs in the three-Test match series. His runs-tally in the series includes a 98 in the first innings of the second Test match and an unbeaten 123 in the first innings of the third Test match. In the subsequent tour of England, Ashwell Prince scored a brilliant century of 101 at Lords. He followed it up with another century of 149, a match-winner at Headingley, which earned him the Man of the Match award and later, the Cricket World Player of the Week honors.
Ashwell Prince made his One Day International (ODI) debut on October 9, 2002 against Bangladesh. On the account of his good form in Test matches, he was given the opportunity to play at the 2007 International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup in West Indies.
Ashwell Prince played his first Twenty20 (T20) game on April 7, 2004 for Western Province Boland against Dolphins at Cape Town. He was signed by the Mumbai Indians, an Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise for $175,000 and was a part of the squad that played against the captainship of Sachin Tendulkar, the prominent Indian cricketer.
