Wisden overview
A year after making his Test debut, Boeta Dippenaar scored his maiden century against New Zealand at the Wanderers before he unluckily lost his place at the top of the order to the recalled Herschelle Gibbs. He grabbed his chance of returning to the Test team, after South Africa's disastrous 2003 World Cup, with an unbeaten 178 against lowly Bangladesh. Prolific first-class runscorers occasionally have weaknesses found out against top-class opposition, and so it was with Dippenaar who quickly found that his tendency to play across and around his back-foot defensive strokes was costly against quality Test bowlers. He worked hard to rectify the problem. On good days, however, he can please the eye for six hours and more. He is not a tall man yet he bats like one, seemingly able to reach the pitch of every ball bowled on or outside off stump and drive it through the covers. The reach and the sweetness of the timing are the foundations of his game; his ability as a cover fielder is a bonus. Dippenaar revels in the outdoor pursuits which kept him busy as a boy growing up in the Free State, and touring is almost as much an opportunity to fish new waters as it is to play cricket. Neil Manthorp

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