The SA20 starts on 10 January 2023 and one of the more explosive teams on paper is the Pretoria Capitals. Werner Erasmus focuses on five players worth looking out for in the franchise from the north.
OVERSEAS
Phil Salt
T20 stats - Innings: 161; Runs: 3 817; Average 25; Strike Rate: 150; Highest Score: 88*
Phil Salt has had quite the journey to where he is today. Despite being born in Wales, Salt was raised in Barbados where he took an interest in cricket. His talents were recognised by a school in Surrey which gave him a scholarship and from that point on he didn’t look back.
After a successful Vitality Blast in 2018 where he made 355 runs at a strike rate of 172, he was picked up in the Pakistan Super League in 2019. It took until July 2021 for him to make his ODI debut for England and January 2022 for his T20I debut. It has been worth the wait for Salt who has grabbed the opportunities he has received with both hands.
Salt will be a real asset for the Capitals at the top of the order as an attacking batter and brings the added advantage of being a wicketkeeper. He is only 26 years old and could be a long-term investment for the side should he have a strong season, and as he will be playing at the Highveld in friendly batting conditions, there is no reason why he can’t.
Jimmy Neesham
T20 stats – Matches: 216; Batting SR: 142; Bowling SR: 17.2, Economy Rate: 9.06
If you have ever spent a bit of time on Twitter among cricket circles, you would have come across tweets from the ever-humorous James Douglas Sheahan Neesham. While he has been a big hit on the social media platform, he has dished out some big ones on the cricket field as well, whether it be around the franchise scene or in international cricket.
Neesham is often not given a lot of time to bat, as reflected by the 2 066 balls he has faced across 174 innings, which breaks down to around 12 balls per innings. For this reason, his role is to try and make an immediate impact with the bat whenever he is at the crease. It is a role he has become accustomed to and he has made his mark for New Zealand for whom he has made 568 runs in the last four years at a strike rate of 167.
If you throw in his ability to bowl a couple of overs with the ball, as long as you don’t rely on him as a death bowler, and his safe hands in the field, the Pretoria Capitals have themselves a real match-winner.
CAPPED
Anrich Nortje
T20 stats - Innings: 83; Wickets: 109; Economy Rate: 7.45, Strike Rate: 16.5, BBI: 4/10
Another player who needs no introduction, but thoroughly deserves one. After a wonderful display during the 2021 T20 World Cup where he was the standout performer with the ball for the Proteas, Anrich Nortje followed it up with an equally impressive performance in the 2022 edition of the tournament. For those who enjoy numbers, his economy rate ended up being exactly the same in both tournaments: 5.37.
That is not the type of economy rate you would typically expect from a bowler who can clock 150kph consistently. But then, Nortje is not your typical bowler. This is someone who could keep running in all day long, and probably would if given the opportunity. Nortje always leaves it all out on the field and is someone a captain will throw the ball to if he wants something to happen.
Nortje has shown that he is a man for the big occasion. He struggled after his long, mysterious, injury layoff and didn’t look like the player he was beforehand. But the moment the World Cup came around, he turned things up for his country and the Capitals will be counting on him for more of the same.
Rilee Rossouw
T20 stats - Innings: 259; Runs: 6 874; Average 31; Strike Rate: 143; Highest Score: 112*
A globetrotter of note, Rilee Rossouw is no stranger to the T20 franchise circuit. Whether it be at the Pakistan Super League, the Bangladesh Premier League, the Vitality Blast or the Big Bash League, Rossouw has made a name for himself in all of them.
In the 2022 PSL, he scored 275 runs at an average of 39 and a strike rate of 168 and backed that up in the 2022 Vitality Blast with an almost absurd 623 runs at an average of 48 and an earth-shattering strike rate of 192. He has been an impact player for the Proteas since his return in August 2022, not wasting any time at the crease. He has either been getting out early, or getting big scores at a rapid rate, illustrated by his twin hundreds and 96* interwoven by five single-digit scores which included three ducks.
With a destructive player like Rossouw, you need to take the good with the bad. The Capitals might look to use Rossouw as a bit of a floater in the batting line-up, depending on the match situation, which they will hope would offset their lack of striking power lower down the order.
UNCAPPED
Eathan Bosch
T20 stats - Innings: 25; Wickets: 30; Economy Rate: 6.93, Strike Rate: 17.6, BBI: 3/20
Picked up for his base price of R 175 000 at the auction, Eathan Bosch might just be one of the best value picks heading into the tournament. His older brother Corbin was one of the pre-auction picks by the Paarl Royals, but Eathan outperformed him in the recent CSA T20 Challenge.
Bosch celebrated his Pretoria Capitals selection by picking up 11 wickets in nine matches at a miserly economy rate of 5.12 for the Dolphins, while making the new ball talk. With T20s being a batter’s game, having a bowler who can strike early and put the opposition under pressure during the powerplay is worth its weight in gold.
Bosch also has some ability with the bat, with two fifties in his relatively short T20 career. Bosch might find it difficult to break into the side with strong competition from the likes of Daryn Dupavilllon and Migael Pretorius who both played in the 2022 edition of the Caribbean Premier League, but his performances in the CSA T20 Challenge have shown that he has the ability to upstage them and he will look to do so again on the bigger stage.