Player Batting Status

Player Bowling Status

Biography

Michael's whole family has been in cricket. His grandfather John played first-class cricket in South Africa, while his father Dave represented his country since their readmission to the time a certain Mark Boucher came along. Dave was also elected as the chief executive of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 2012.

However, unlike his father and grandfather, Michael plies his trade in England and only returns to South Africa during winter to play for Western Cape. He started by playing for Nottinghamshire University and Nottinghamshire Premier League, then was picked up by MCC Young Cricketers.

Playing for Young Cricketers turned out to be fruitful as only in his second season, Michael was named captain and at the end of the season he signed his first professional contract with Durham in 2009.

It took Michael two years to make it to Durham's first XI and he made his debut in 2011 against Yorkshire, scoring twin fifties and playing a key role in the 146-run win. His love affair with Yorkshire did not finish there. In the title winning season in 2013, Michael scored his maiden championship hundred against the White Roses that tipped the title in favor of Durham. He also recorded his career-best first-class score (148) against the same side next season.

For a while Michael was pipped as the best number 8 batsman in county circuit. But inconsistencies and dip in form did not allow him to take the next step. Michael also gave up keeping for a while in 2016 to concentrate solely on his batting.

Michael also had to rediscover his batting to accommodate white-ball cricket and he did it with aplomb. Playing plenty of handy knocks lower down the innings to take Durham to the finals day of the 2016 T20 Blast. However, with the progress of Stuart Poynter, Michael lost his place in Durham's T20 side.