CricketZA

Jozi Stars The defending champions have managed to retain some of their best players from last season. Reeza Hendricks and Rassie van der Dussen were in incredible form and we can expect more of the same this season. Temba Bavuma, who recently made his T20I debut for the Proteas, has been named captain. Chris Gayle will feature for the Stars in the early stages of the tournament and will then be replaced by another veteran – Shoaib Malik. Two of South Africa’s most highly rated young batsmen – Ryan Rickleton and Sinethemba Qeshile are also part of the squad. Qeshile is the main wicket-keeping option available to them and is likely to play in all their matches.   He has already made his T20I debut and has an opportunity here to make a case for the WT20 next year Nono Pongolo’s story was one of the highlights of the inaugural MSL tournament. He was initially only selected as a back-up and was involved with SABC’s commentary team. Pongolo went on to pick 10 wickets in the tour...

The second season of the Mzansi Super League is upon us, amid an ongoing crisis regarding payments from last season. Broadcasting the matches on SABC instead of Supersport was not Cricket South Africa’s first choice, but it has worked out well for the fans. Many people tuned in last year and the same is expected this season. With the World T20 in Australia just under a year away, the local players will be looking to make an impact. Rassie van der Dussen, for example, had a great season last time that saw him receive a call up to the one-day side, where he has performed well. Cape Town Blitz The Blitz reached the final last season but were beaten by van der Dussen’s Jozi Stars. Quinton de Kock finished as their highest run-scorer and was second on the list overall. He finished with 412 runs, averaging 58.85 at an incredible strike-rate of 169.54. He has had some captaincy opportunities with the Proteas lately and was named as the captain for the Blitz earlier this week. He ...