The SA Twenty20 Series

The IPL has shown interest in staging the above competition in SA starting tomorrow.    The teams in the main funded by the IPL are the following:

*    The MI Cape Town;

*    The Durban Super Giants;

*    The Sunrisers Eastern Cape

*    The Pretoria Capitals

*    The Paarl Royals

*    The Johannesburg Super Kings.  

It will be an interesting series to watch and the sponsors said team selection must be on merit.   A lot of SA players (inclusive of Bavuma and Elgar) did not get bids and are not playing.

I am going  to enjoy this one.            

Dave

The squads are the following:-

JOBURG SUPER KINGS

Batters: Faf du Plessis (captain), Harry Brook (ENG), Leus du Plooy (ENG), Reeza Hendricks, Janneman Malan.

Wicketkeepers: Donavon Ferreira, Kyle Verreynne.

All-rounders: George Garton (ENG), Nandre Burger, Lewis Gregory (ENG), Romario Shepherd (WI).

Bowlers: Lizaad Williams, Maheesh Theekshana (SL), Malusi Siboto, Caleb Seleka, Aaron Phangiso (wildcard), Gerald Coetzee, Alzarri Joseph (WI).

Coaches: Stephen Fleming (head coach), Albie Morkel, Eric Simons, Wandile Gwavu.

SUNRISERS EASTERN CAPE

Batters: Marques Ackerman, Aiden Markram (captain), Sarel Erwee, Jordan Hermann (wildcard).

Wicketkeepers: Tristan Stubbs, Adam Rossington (ENG), Jordan Cox (ENG).

All-rounders: Tom Abell (ENG), James Fuller (ENG), Ayabulela Gqamane, Marco Jansen, Roelof van der Merwe (NED), JJ Smuts.

Bowlers: Ottneil Baartman, Sisanda Magala, Junaid Dawood, Mason Crane (ENG), Brydon Carse (ENG).

Coaches: Adrian Birrell (head coach), Baakier Abrahams, Dale Steyn.

PAARL ROYALS

Batters: David Miller (captain), Eoin Morgan (ENG), Jason Roy (ENG), Mitchell van Buuren, Wihan Lubbe.

Wicketkeepers: Jos Buttler (ENG), Dane Vilas.

All-rounders: Ferisco Adams, Corbin Bosch, Codi Yusuf, Evan Jones, Andile Phehlukwayo (wildcard).

Bowlers: Bjorn Fortuin, Imran Manack, Obed McCoy (WI), Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi, Ramon Simmonds (WI).

DURBAN SUPER GIANTS

Batters: Matthew Breetzke, Christiaan Jonker.

Wicketkeepers: Quinton de Kock (captain), Heinrich Klaasen, Johnson Charles (WI).

All-rounders: Akila Dananjaya (SL) (wildcard), Jason Holder (WI), Kyle Mayers (WI), Wiaan Mulder, Keemo Paul (WI), Dwaine Pretorius, Prenelan Subrayen.

Bowlers: Reece Topley (ENG), Dilshan Madushanka (SL), Junior Dala, Kyle Abbott, Simon Harmer, Keshav Maharaj.

Coaches: Lance Klusener (head coach), Morne Morkel, Jonty Rhodes.

MI CAPE TOWN

Batters: Wesley Marshall, Delano Potgieter, Rassie van der Dussen.

Wicketkeepers: Grant Roelofsen, Ryan Rickelton.

All-rounders: Dewald Brevis, Sam Curran (ENG), George Linde, Liam Livingstone (ENG), Rashid Khan (AFG) (captain), Odean Smith (WI).

Bowlers: Ziyaad Abrahams, Jofra Archer (ENG) (wildcard), Beuran Hendricks, Duan Jansen, Kagiso Rabada, Olly Stone (ENG), Waqar Salamkheil (AFG).

Coaches: Simon Katich (head coach), Hashim Amla, James Pamment.

PRETORIA CAPITALS

Batters: Theunis de Bruyn, Cameron Delport, Will Jacks (ENG), Rilee Rossouw, Shane Dadswell, Marco Marais.

Wicketkeepers: Phil Salt (ENG), Kusal Mendis (SL).

All-rounders: Senuran Muthusamy (wildcard), James Neesham (NZ), Shaun von Berg.

Bowlers: Adil Rashid (ENG), Wayne Parnell (captain), Migael Pretorius, Anrich Nortje, Josh Little (IRE), Daryn Dupavillon, Eathan Bosch.

Coaches: Graham Ford (head coach), Dale Benkenstein, Jacques Kallis.

Thanks CM for the updates as I was wondering about the squads.

First match report,  

Baby AB Brewis was magnificent  and deserved to be the Player of the Match - he scored 70 runs from 48 balls and was in the end not out.

His opening partner was Rickelton who scored  42 runs from 36 balls.   

The bowler with the least runs given away was Duan Jacobs - 5,33 runs per over.

The MI Cape Town team won the match earning a bonus point as well.   

First match report,  

Teams Playing MI Cape Town vs  Paarl Royals

Baby AB Brewis was magnificent and deserved to be the Player of the Match - he scored 70 runs from 48 balls and was in the e nd not out.

His opening partner was Rickelton who scored  42 runs from 36 balls -  also a good performance 

The MI Cape Town bowler with the least runs given away was Duan Jacobs - 5,33 runs per over.

The MI Cape Town team won the match earning a bonus point as well.   

There's a few more duds in that side apart from Vilas.....eg Lubbe and Fortuin....who in hell are they??

Great to see Archer back in action after a lengthy layoff, he has good rhythm, balance and athleticism, typical of a West Indian bowler of bygone days. Very easy on the eye. 

It wasn't his best return but he'll get better.

Really not impressed thus far.

One or two good knocks but other than that really par for most of the players involved.

Really not impressed thus far.

One or two good knocks but other than that really par for most of the players involved.

Agree....the games lack a competitive edge, as you say there's been a couple of individual good knocks but from a match perspective there's no excitement.

The problem is some of the sides have a lot of duds playing for he teams.   The exceptions are Paarl, Cape Town and Durban.   

Aside from drawing good crowds in SA - the first time in years that happened - the fact is that India are perhaps the most interested country in what is happening.    It is opening the way for a lot of youngsters who will be on their shopping list for the IPL next year.    Examples  Coetzee, Rickleton,  Roelofsen, Ferreira, Duan Jacobs etc.   Some of the players who will not make the grade into the IPL next year could be Ngidi, Klaasen and even Du Plessis.

I am interested in how the youngsters do against some top class bowling - there are some really good bowlers in the squads - but in most cases the batsmen (especially those who are still playing for the Proteas) are desperately poor. 

I am disappointed some good players like Hermann and Van Tonder were not bought during the auction.   I think this series will continue next year  and will get stronger when the duds are more or less excluded.    It could be expanded by bringing in more players from Australia, India and Pakistan.