Born at Rondebosch, Cape Town, South Africa in 1948, the grandson of V.A. (Western Province), son of P.G.V. (South Africa) and great nephew of V.A.W. (Western Province), Vintcent van der Bijl was a right-arm fast medium bowler and right-handed lower order batsman. Making his first-class debut for the South African Universities in 1967/68, he represented Natal between 1968/69 and 1981/82 and Transvaal in 1982/83 in the Currie Cup. He represented Middlesex in 1980-1981 21 times and helped the county to the double of the county championship and the Gillette Cup in 1980. For the county he bagged 86 wickets (av. 15.00) with a best performance of 6 for 47 versus Sussex at Hove in 1980 and he scored 331 runs (av. 25.46) with a top score of 76 versus Nottinghamshire at Lord's in 1980 and he held 5 catches. He topped the bowling averages for the 1980 season with 85 wickets (av. 14.72) and took 5 wickets in an innings on five occasions during the season and took match figures of 10 for 69 versus Derbyshire at Uxbridge in 1980 when Middlesex won by 10 wickets. He toured abroad twice with Wilfred Isaacs's XI to England in 1969 and South Africa to Australia in 1971/72, which was cancelled.
