Overview
Lungile Edgar "Loots" Bosman (born 14 April 1977) is a former South African international cricketer. A top-order right-handed batsman and occasional right-arm medium pace bowler, he represented South Africa in One Day Internationals and Twenty20 Internationals. Born in Kimberley in the Cape Province, he was raised by his grandfather and made his first-class debut for Griqualand West at the start of the 1997–98 season.
Despite early success with provincial sides and South Africa A, Bosman became widely known only with the arrival of Twenty20 cricket in South Africa. In the inaugural Standard Bank Pro20 Series at the end of the 2003–04 season, playing for the Eagles under the new franchise system, he topped the batting charts with 219 runs at a strike-rate of 120.99 and a highest score of 84 not out, despite batting in the middle order. He went on to score the first century in the Standard Bank Pro20 Series in the 2004–05 season, establishing himself as a hard-hitting opener and an archetype of the successful Twenty20 batsman.
In October 2007, Bosman turned down a contract with the Indian Cricket League and instead signed with the Mumbai Indians for the first edition of the Indian Premier League, though he did not break into the starting XI. His international appearances were limited in 2008, with a single Twenty20 outing against Bangladesh. At the end of the 2008–09 domestic season he moved from the Eagles to the Dolphins franchise in KwaZulu-Natal.
Bosman was initially named in a provisional squad of 30 for the 2009 World Twenty20 but did not make the final 15. In November 2009, he came within one boundary of what would then have been only the second international Twenty20 century, scoring 94 from 45 balls with nine sixes against England at Centurion. In the same match he featured in a then world-record opening stand of 170 runs with Graeme Smith.
References
Adapted from the English Wikipedia article on Loots Bosman.