Review: SA20 players impress in CSA T20 Challenge (week 2)

DOLPHINS TRIO THE STANDOUTS AMONG SA20 PLAYERS IN POTCH

It was another excellent week for Grant Roelofsen at the CSA T20 Challenge as the Hollywoodbets Dolphins opener saw his SA20 stock rise with a trio of strong performances that helped his team qualify for the semifinals in Potchefstroom.

The 26-year-old was signed by the Mumbai Indians Cape Town for South Africa’s version of competitions such as the Indian Premier League (IPL) and Big Bash League (BBL) that will be played for the first time in January.

His auction price of R175k is now looking like a steal after he extended his advantage at the top of the run charts to well over 100 runs with scores of 91, 44 and 29*. The wicketkeeper-batsman now has 307 runs at an average of 61.40 and strike-rate of 139.34.

Roelofsen’s innings of 91 was his career-best, coming off only 49 balls as he clobbered five sixes and six fours in a massive 123-run win over the Dafabet Warriors at the start of the week. He also claimed eight dismissals behind the stumps.

Some of his MI Cape Town teammates also enjoyed productive weeks, among them being Duan Jansen, twin brother of Proteas quick Marco who was purchased for a hefty R3.3 million.

Featuring for North West Dragons, the allrounder claimed 2-26 and hit 23 in a losing cause against Six Gun Grill Western Province, while he sent down an economical 0-10 in another defeat to Gbets Rocks. His last performance also ended in a loss, this time to the Warriors, when he took 1-30.

George Linde had two contrasting outings where he hit 21 and returned 0-13 in a win for WP, before top-scoring with 30 and conceding 0-15 in a heavy defeat to the Dolphins.

South Africa’s rising young superstar Dewald Brevis, pre-signed by MI Cape Town before the draft, found the going much tougher in week two when he managed 27 off 22 balls, while conceding 27 in four wicketless overs across matches against the Rocks and the Warriors. That saw the 19-year-old slip to sixth on the overall run charts with a total of 154 runs.

Ryan Rickelton (29), Delano Potgieter (9 and 0-20, 2 and 0-14), Wesley Marshall (30, 12, 56) and Ziyaad Abrahams (0-57, 2-26) were the other SA20 Cape Town-recruited players to feature, with Beuran Hendricks not playing any games.

It was a good week too for some of the Sunrisers Eastern Cape squad – and in particular Ottneil Baartman.

The Dolphins seamer bagged 10 wickets in his four games to shoot to the top of the wicket-taking charts with a total of 14 at an average of 10.21 and economy rate of 6.65.

Baartman began the week with a splendid career-best 5-14 from 14 deliveries in what was a 123-run hammering of the Warriors. He followed that up with 2-30, 1-13 and 2-16, his Durban side winning three out of four games with one ending in a washout.

VALUE OF BOSCH, DUPAVILLON

Also excelling for the Dolphins in an all-round role was Jon-Jon Smuts (9 and 1-10, 37* and 0-38, 2-15, 11 and 3-12) in his four outings. The veteran former Proteas player has seven wickets with his spin and 93 runs from 72 balls in six innings.

Aya Gqamane (1-10 and 0-15) and Junaid Dawood (1-15, 1-15) were the other Sunrisers faces to feature during the week, while three players did not play at all - Marques Ackerman, Sisanda Magala and Sarel Erwee. The latter pair are the only two yet to feature in Potch.

For the Pretoria Capitals, Ethan Bosch and Daryn Dupavillon underlined their value with some high-class economical spells when they turned out for the successful Dolphins. The former grabbed 2-3, 0-34, 1-19 and 1-17 and the latter returned 0-5, 3-30, 1-23 and 2-5.

Medium-pacer Bosch is up to third on the wicket-taking leaderboard where he has 10 wickets, trailing Baartman and Bamanye Xenxe (both 14) by four. Paceman Dupavillon has six wickets overall.

Shaun von Berg (1-20, 1-43 and 1-26, Theunis de Bruyn (17), Cameron Delport (27) and Migael Pretorius (0-43) were among the other Capitals’ players in action.

SUBRAYEN ENTERTAINS

Elsewhere, the owners of Durban Super Giants would have been delighted with the performances of almost all their players, in particular Prenelan Subrayen.

The Dolphins spinner (2-14, 1-23, 2-28, 2-16) took seven wickets over the course of the week and now has nine in total at an impressive economy rate of 6.17. Fellow slow bowler and SA20 teammate Simon Harmer (0-4, and 2-12) is conceding even few at 4.35 – the best players with more than 10 overs bowled.

Junior Dala (3-20, 1-30) is up to 10 wickets, while fellow Giants, Matthew Breetzke (27*, 26, 29), Wiaan Mulder (39 and 0-14) and Christiaan Jonker (15*), all showed plenty of promise.

There was one stand-out performance from a Jo’burg Super Kings player during the week – Gerald Coetzee’s match-winning 4-36 that helped the ITEC Knights edge to a four-run win over the Rocks in one of the most thrilling games of the competition thus far.

It was his only bowl of the week and the 22-year-old speedster now has eight wickets in the competition. Nandre Burger (2-30, 1-10) and Caleb Seleka (1-38, 2-22, 0-11) took three wickets apiece, while Janneman Malan was third on the run charts after scores of 11, six and 34 took him to an aggregate of 179.

The other Super Kings to play this past week were Leus du Plooy (0, 25 and 0-25), Kyle Verreynne (17, 4) and Malusi Siboto (13 and 0-26). Donovan Ferreira did not feature.

It wasn’t such a productive week for the Paarl Royals until Sunday when Wihan Lubbe captained the Warriors and scored a strong 52 in a 10-run triumph over the Dragons. The allrounder opened the batting and also returned 0-23 with the ball. Before that he managed eight runs in two outings and 1-13 with the ball in two overs.

Their other recruits that played were Ferisco Adams (9 and 1-13 and 0-18), Imran Manack (0-15, 30 and 1-38, and 1-30), Corbin Bosch (7 and 0-12), Evan Jones (8 and 0-32), Codi Yusuf (1-26) and Mitchell van Buuren (42).

The tournament enters its final stages this week, with the winner to be decided on Saturday.

SA20 players in each squad (43 in total):

GBETS ROCKS (6): Janneman Malan, Ferisco Adams, Leus Du Plooy, Shaun Von Berg, Imran Manack, Christiaan Jonker.

MOMENTUM MULTIPLY TITANS (7): Theunis de Bruyn, Corbin Bosch, Aya Gqamane, Donovan Ferreira, Junior Dala, Simon Harmer, Dewald Brevis.

SIX GUN GRILL WESTERN PROVINCE (5): Beuran Hendricks, George Linde, Junaid Dawood, Kyle Verreynne, Nandre Burger.

HOLLYWOODBETS DOLPHINS (8): *Sarel Erwee, Eathan Bosch, Grant Roelofsen, Jon Jon Smuts, Daryn Dupavillon, Marques Ackerman, Prenelan Subrayen, Ottneil Baartman.

NORTH WEST DRAGONS (4): Delano Potgieter, Duan Jansen, Caleb Seleka, Wesley Marshall.

DAFABET WARRIORS (3): Wihan Lubbe, Ziyaad Abrahams, Matthew Breetzke.

DP WORLD LIONS (8): Ryan Rickelton, Cameron Delport, Mitchell Van Buuren, *Sisanda Magala, Wiaan Mulder, Evan Jones, Malusi Siboto, Codi Yusuf.

ITEC KNIGHTS (2): Gerald Coetzee, Migael Pretorius.

*denotes player has not played any games so far