Cricket South Africa | 2021-11-30

Once again, this week I have the scores and or bowling figures of the players that put them into this team of the week. The scores provided here show the score that put them into this team and is not the total number of runs or wickets that they made in this round.

Isma-eel Gafielden

97 v Titans

A well-timed first innings score here for Isma-eel in a tough game v the Titans but Isma, after a disappointing time with the Cape Cobras last season is enjoying his time with Boland and now has his second 50 of the season and very nearly had a century. At 25 his future looks bright.

Matthew Breetzke

100 v Western Province

Matthew is in the prime of his life, simply cannot stop scoring runs and currently averages 56.33 in this season’s 4 Day Series. Just a few days after his mammoth 152* v North West in the last round he got another hundred against Western Province and it was a superb innings.

Neil Brand

111 v Rocks

He might be an opening batter by tradition but it was impossible to leave out Brand with his 111 against a strong Rocks bowling group that included former Protea Hardus Viljoen and the very experienced Shaun Von Berg. At 25 Brand is not only enjoying his batting but also the extra responsibility that comes with being the Captain of the Titans.

Rudi Second (wk)

76 v Western Province

One of the unlucky ones, when it has come to higher honours, is Rudi, who was in most peoples’ opinion Number 2 as keeper batter a good few years before Kyle Verreynne and Ryan Rickelton came along. That said, his form had dipped in recent years so it was good to see him back in the runs again this week.  He still has a lot to give to the game and the younger players in the Warriors side. 

Bryce Parsons

65 v North West

Another good innings by Bryce, he really is coming on in leaps and bounds since settling with the Dolphins at the beginning of this season. His second 50 of the season was equally impressive as the first. Everyone knows Bryce is a huge talent and he is making sure everyone is seeing that now on a regular basis. 

Ruan de Swardt

71 v North West

An all-rounder is needed in South African domestic cricket and there are quite a few who are doing quite well so far. As with many of them, it is quite difficult to decipher whether Ruan is better at batting or bowling. Still, this was a solid innings when things could have been tricky for the Dolphins and went a long way to make sure they got full batting points in the first innings.

Delano Potgieter

5/85 v Dolphins

It has been a tough year so far for North West, so it is comforting to be able to put another of their players in the Team of the Week, aside from Nicky van den Burgh, of course. Delano is well known as a white-ball cricketer but is making it known he can do it with the red ball as well.  He dismissed four of the top five in the Dolphins batting order with his very decent medium pace.

Kyle Jacobs

52 v Western Province

He was one of the finds in the T20 Competition as the Warriors had several injuries but now, after showing promise there, he is doing it in the 4 Day Series. While the Warriors did thump Western Province, he still managed a solid 52 to show he can do it with the bat if required and picked up 3 wickets with his economical leg-spin.

Duanne Olivier

5/53 v Knights

I am running out of superlatives to describe Duanne at this point of the season. The guy is on cloud nine on these pitches and causing any batting order he has bowled to a world of problems. Although it is fair to say he struggled in his first spell and was going for plenty of runs, that did not last long. He was back to his best the second time around and is now averaging 11.96 in the competition. 

Tsepo Ndwana

3/7 v Western Province

Tsepo was injured for the Warriors in the CSA T20 Competition, so to see him back was good news for them. He bowled with great accuracy, especially in the first innings as his 3/7 came in under 8 overs. It does take a while for a spinner to find his happy place but Tsepo is starting to do that. Hopefully. this will mean he gets a long run of games now.

Zakhele Qwabe

4/40 v Titans

Qwabe had slightly better figures earlier on before Corbin Bosch played his merry knock but he was still the most economical bowler of the entire Rocks bowling unit at the end of the innings. At 33 he is no longer a spring chicken but it is always good to see the old guard doing well, especially in the high intensity that the new domestic cricket structure brings.