Top 5 South African Test spinners of all time

1 Hugh Tayfield

Tayfield At The Oval

The right arm off-spinner played between the years 1949 and 1960 and is often regarded as not only South Africa's greatest ever spin bowler, but also one of the greatest off-spinners to have ever played Test cricket.

Although Hugh Tayfield was not a huge spinner of the ball, he relied on his accuracy, his variations and the right amount of turn to cause trouble for most batsmen. During the course of his distinguished international career, Tayfield featured in 37 Test matches and picked up 170 wickets at an excellent average of 25.91.

What set him apart from many other off-spinners was his intelligence as a bowler and he was known to keep the cover region vacant in order to tempt the batsmen into playing against the turn. In addition to the classic off-spinner, Tayfield also bowled the floater equally expertly and foxed many batsmen as the ball drifted away from the stumps.