Claude William Henderson Profile
A slow left-arm orthodox spinner, Claude Henderson had to wait for a long time to make his international debut for South Africa, thanks to the already existing list of spinners in Pat Symcox, Paul Adams and Nicky Boje. Almost ten years after he played his debut first-class match, Henderson played his maiden game for the Proteas against Zimbabwe in 2001 at the age of 29.
During his career with South Africa, Henderson played seven Tests and four ODIs, claiming 22 and seven wickets respectively. Although, his international career was relatively short-lived, he was exceptional in County Cricket. He joined Leicestershire in 2004 as a Kolpak player, and since then has been a force to reckon with in the dressing room. Henderson has shown tremendous talent over the years, and his performances in the Twenty20 arena have been equally phenomenal. He was instrumental in Leicestershire's two title wins in 2004 and 2006, and also helped Cape Cobras reach the inaugural Champions League T20 semis in India. 2010 marked his 20th year in professional cricket, and there were plenty of reasons to celebrate. He had an excellent season at Grace Road as he bagged 56 first-class wickets at 21.05, which helped him scoop the Players' Player of the Year award and the Cricketer of the Year award. In addition, he became the club's all-time leading wicket-taker in Twenty20 cricket – a terrific achievement for a cricketer of his age. Henderson is also a useful lower-order batsman and his most memorable innings for the Leics came in 2006, when he smashed six sixes, scoring 42 runs off just 16 balls, eventually helping his team to a famous victory.
Having given so many years of his life to Leicestershire, the Worcester-born veteran definitely deserves much respect and admiration from his teammates, and rightly so, he was named the spin bowling coach of his club in 2007. He has mentored Jigar Naik during his time at Grace Road and would have been a proud coach when Naik topped the national first-class bowling averages in 2010. The duo have built an excellent rapport on and off the field.
