The Hermann brothers, Rubin and Jordan, have made waves in South African cricket over the past couple of seasons. Now on the cusp of playing together for the Proteas, the two sat down with Wisden.com's Aadya Sharma late last year to talk about their journey so far.
“It’s almost like an unspoken language. I can’t even tell you what we speak in the middle”.
Rubin and Jordan Hermann are almost five years apart, but when they bat together, they turn into inseparable twins. It’s a deep bond transcending the verbal barrier: they pick up cues on how the other is moving, feed off each other’s “energy” and even silently, internally compete as teammates.
In a joint interview with Wisden.com, filled with laughter, banter and introspection, they go backwards and forwards, telling the story of two brothers making waves in South Africa.
The last few months have been busy. Keeper-batter Rubin, 29, has already debuted in both white-ball international formats. Jordan, 24, talked up by AB de Villiers more than once, won the latest SA20 with Sunrisers Eastern Cape, also bagging the Rising Star award. His maiden Proteas call-up for the T20I tour of New Zealand starting tomorrow has seen the pair named in the same squad for the first time.
Both are touted for future success, but like most brothers, their story began at the back of their house.
“My first memories of playing cricket was when we had a big driveway in our previous house,” recalls Rubin from a time before Jordan. “My dad blocked off all the holes with netting.”
“We had massive driveway cricket battles with my middle brother (Devin) and my dad. And then, obviously, when Jody got born, we outgrew that house.”
In a bigger backyard, the three brothers found their common thread of passion.
“We had some incredible battles in that backyard,” Rubin recalls. “Very, very competitive. And that's probably where our competitive nature comes from.”
Despite being the youngest, Jordan managed to hold his own.
“Absolutely never out unless it's hit my stumps,” Jordan giggles, “then I'll still complain if it wasn't clear-cut stumps, and that was really off the surface, then it wasn't out.”
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‘Hockey taught me how to sweep’
Their father, an avid sportsperson, tried his hand at everything that came his way. One of those was hockey, which helped Jordan learn the sweep shot in his early teens.
“It’s obviously a right-handed sport. Being left-handed, I could basically just play a back stick. So that's how I probably learned how to play the sweep.”
“I played fourth team in high school, just because it's the most social team possible. And it's just a bunch of mates trying to skip the last two periods of school to go on a trip for hockey against some other teams. First team, they got some seriously competitive guys. We were just going for laughs.”
Rubin had an influence on Jordan’s game, but once they moved out of university, they became more like equals.
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“Growing up, to be honest, I think our relationship only really grew close when we started playing cricket a lot more together,” Rubin says. “Because I'm five years older, I was always in a more mature setting.”
“But then after school, we played together for the first time at varsity (University of Pretoria), and I think that's when everything changed, because we both saw each other like equals. On the same playing field now, same phase of life, both out of school and both moving more towards professional ranks.
“The relationship changed a lot then now it became more of like a supporting role for each other, more of a competing role. It's a lot of competing, but there's a lot of love still involved.”
Having begun at the same spot, their paths to the top weren’t really identical. Jordan moved to the Eastern Cape, debuted for the Warriors in late 2021, and debuted in the SA20 within a year. Rubin plied his trade with Northerns, then Mpumalanga Rhinos in Division Two, before moving up to North West Dragons. For two seasons, he watched his brother play the SA20 before a maiden contract came about on the back of leading the CSA T20 Challenge run-charts.
Naturally, both the Hermanns have clear similarities in their game. Rubin is a busy batter at the crease; attacking on the off-side but also a fine puller of the ball. Similar to his elder brother in stance and setup, Jordan relies more on convention, having idolised Dean Elgar’s grittiness growing up.
But Jordan also has strikingly pretty shots, especially the way he zeroes into the ball and puts it away to the leg-side. His lofted sixes off spinners are pleasing to the eye, and arguably, a throwback to elegant South African lefties, particularly JP Duminy.
‘We molded into the same type of player’
“I think a lot of people have mentioned that we bat similarly, we walk similarly, we look similar,” Jordan says. “It’s just the way we grew up with our dad coaching us most of the time, and then the same coach from there, and then also the same school with the same coaches. So just probably molded into the same type of player.”
Although more experienced in SA20, Jordan considers himself slightly less aggressive, and had to evolve his natural style a lot with the changing times.
“He (Rubin) approaches the game much differently than I do. When I grew up at school, he was much more aggressive, where I was obsessed with scoring runs. Rubin was scoring runs quickly, as much as possible, as fast as possible, but I was just clearly about runs output.
“I had to evolve and change my game as much as I can, because it (the game) went from striking at low or steady strike-rates, to now the impact has to be higher, especially the higher (level) you play, it has to be (bigger).”
While Rubin inherently has a wider range of shots, Jordan has had to really focus on opening up his game.
‘I had to work a lot on increasing shot options and confidence’
“When every time Rubin got caught at long on, I would hear my dad go, ‘Never do that’. But it’s something that has helped in his career. That’s something I have to let go of: sometimes you just have to take on long on if the situation requires it. So it's interesting how different types we play: very much similar, but very much different types of aggression.”
It’s that aggression and gear-changing that compelled South Africa to try out Rubin, who finished his debut SA20 season (2024/25) as the fifth-highest run-getter. Since then, he’s played a tri-series in Zimbabwe, toured Namibia and India, and featured against the West Indies at home. Across his T20 career, he has batted everywhere from No.1 to 7.
“If needed, I have the ability to shift around the order,” Rubin says. “It is an arrow in my quiver. It’s something I take pride in, that I have fluidity in my game. I can mold my game to the situation.”
Read more: Three matches, four centuries: South African brothers extend prolific run against New Zealand A
In red-ball cricket, Rubin started off at No.7, primed to attack the second new-ball, but has since become a top-five batter after learning to be more “selective” with his shots, banking on his technical solidity to “knuckle down”.
“I have loved every second of batting at five,” Rubin says. “I aim to put a couple of more seasons together, to knock on the third format’s door, because everyone’s dream is to wear the baggy green.”
Rubin might have gotten on the SA20 bandwagon late, but his international debut followed soon after. After missing out on an exciting new product for South Africa for two straight years, Rubin “put his head down”, and got an international call-up “out of the blue”.
“You know it's the next step, but you don't really realise it,” Rubin says. “All of a sudden, I got the call that said ‘You're going to Zimbabwe’. I was like, ‘Oh, my word. Is this the next step?”
Rubin credits the “inviting” environment Shooks (Shukri Conrad) has built, but also says the SA20 made the jump “so much easier”.
Jordan on AB’s praise: ‘He hasn’t seen enough, it can’t be me’
It’s been rapid progress from the time a virtually unknown Jordan garnered a ringing endorsement from his childhood idol, AB de Villiers.
“At the top of my head among the (young) batters (to watch out) is Jordan Hermann,” de Villiers had name-checked him in January 2023. “I didn’t even know about him before the tournament to be honest. I heard his name once, and then I watched him bat, and I was really impressed.”
The following year, when Jordan hit his maiden T20 hundred, his inbox buzzed with a personal message from the man himself, along with an invitation too good to ignore. Jordan couldn’t believe it at first.
“I thought ‘He hasn't seen enough of me. Can't be me’,” Jordan says. “It took a while to set in a bit.”
“Someone that has played a lot of cricket has identified me as having a good talent. I always denied having good talent because I worked extremely hard to grow my game.”
“He sent me a message that we can hit balls, and I haven't taken the offer up as of yet, because I'm always busy, and I know he's busy, I don't even want to intrude on his schedule, but I might just tick off the box of a childhood dream of working with AB and take up the offer soon.”
De Villiers is Jordan’s one big role model, but he’s also a big fan of Roelof van der Merwe’s passion. Quinton de Kock and Adam Gilchrist are some of the others.
“I loved watching AB bat, but just now I don't like watching him bat because it just feels unfair. Still feels like he can walk into any international team. It’s just made me so self-conscious!”
Rubin echoes Jordan’s AB-fandom, but found his wicketkeeping motivation more in Australia.
“I looked up to the Aussie keepers quite a lot. I watched Brad Haddin more than I did Adam Gilchrist, just because I remember a bit more.
“I always used to try to mimic his (Haddin’s) keeping styles: how he catches a ball, how neat and clean it looks, and how he makes terrible balls look good.”
Jordan: ‘I have followed RCB for the longest time’
At the SA20, their father became a social media icon for wearing a split-jersey, Paarl’s pink on one side, Sunrisers’ orange on the other. The hope is that one day, he’ll get to wear an IPL jersey too.
Yet to be picked at the auction, they’ve reined in their expectations for now.
“There's no real focus of mine to get there,” says Rubin, “because that stuff takes care of itself. And to be honest, there's no real team I would prefer to play for. I would love to take any opportunity that comes my way.”
The IPL hasn't come calling yet, but Rubin was signed by the Lahore Qalandars for the 2026 Pakistan Super League, his first overseas franchise contract.
Jordan, though, has his favourite marked out: “I've supported RCB for the longest time, so thankfully, they won their first title in the last IPL, which is flipping cool, and probably the IPL I followed the least of all. I think my game is a long way from playing in a league like that, especially seeing the overseas stars there, but it's something I definitely want to play.
“Luckily, my career is so young, and I still feel I can grow my game a lot. So it's definitely in the future, something I want to do when the time's right, or it will happen hopefully,” says Jordan, calling playing the IPL “a full circle type of thing for your career”.
Beyond cricket, both have a deep love for coffee. “I am a bit more of a coffee badger than him,” says Rubin. “I pride myself a lot on making a good cup of coffee. We have a nice setup here. One day I can have a coffee shop of my own, maybe a side hustle.”
They’ve been sucked into the Padel revolution too, and are “equally bad golfers”. “Maybe Jordy is better than I am,” Rubin concedes.
“I have retired from golf. I tried my best,” insists Jordan.
Long before that R-word comes, Rubin is waiting for his brother to realise the ultimate dream – which could become a reality against New Zealand.
“I would like to share the green and golds with Jordy – we’ve done it at the SA-A level, but it’s very much a possibility that we can do it at the top level.”
Through all the layers of laughter, teasing and contemplation, one thing stands out: the Hermann brothers’ love for the game and for each other. As Rubin says, sharing that with a sibling is indeed a privilege.
Image: YouTube/Betway SA20
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