CSA Provincial T20 Knock Out: Players to Watch

In this piece, Tim Dale Lace explain the new competition launched by CSA that will start on Friday the 24^th as well as pick nine players who I think you should look at. It is important to add that no Proteas that are in the T20 World Cup Squad are available for the competition. 

The CSA Provincial T20 Knock Out competition will be held between all 15 sides of the new domestic cricket structure and a SA under 19 side from the 24^th of September to 22^nd October. The sides will be in four pools.

Pools

Pool A

Northern Cape Heat, Six Gun Grill SWD, Imperial Lions, Six Gun Grill Western Province.

Pool B

Mpumalanga Rhinos, Hollywoodbets Tuskers, Itec Knights, Momentum Multiply Titans.

Pool C

Eastern Storm, SA U19s, North West Dragons, Hollywoodbets Dolphins 

Pool D

Eastern Cape Iinyathi, Limpopo Impalas, Warriors, The Rocks

Players to Watch

Achille Cloete (The Rocks)

Achille, who will be joining a star-studded Boland this year, has a good reason to be positive ahead of the competition and season. He is going to have Kyle Abbott, Hardus Viljoen and the very experienced Febrisco Adams to lean on for advice. Before last season he had played for Boland U-19, so the surroundings will be familiar to him.

At 20 he has genuine pace and good rhythmic action. The fact that he has already played either with or against several of the players that will be in the competition means he will have an edge over them. His experience at SA under 19 level will also have given him a good grounding to do well in this competition. Don’t let the fact he hasn’t played much domestic cricket fool you.

Marques Ackerman (Dolphins)

Marques last played a T20 in SA in 2019 during that year’s MSL competition so it might seem odd to have him on this list. Despite a tough season last year, with his wide range of shots and ability to hit all around the ground he is ideal for this format and the Dolphins will hope his form returns.

He did score impressively a few days ago in a pre-season match against the Tuskers where he dominated the opposition bowlers. Marques has always had the talent to perform in this format but at 25 and with middling numbers in terms of stats, right now he needs to perform.

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Delano Potgieter (North West Dragons)

Delano is one of those players that prior to last season outside of the 50 over format has struggled to make it in the franchise area on a consistent basis, apart from the odd game. However, his performances in April for an SA Emerging side against Namibia did show the potential he has with bat and ball.

North West are in the same Pool as the SA under 19 side and Eastern Storm so I back him to score good runs in the group stages. Delano has always been a big hitter of the ball, so he should have fun in this competition. His bowling will be a bonus and if he does well, I think a Proteas selection isn’t a million miles away.

Tristan Stubbs (Warriors)

Tristan was arguably the find of the season last year with his excellent performances in the white-ball format for the Warriors. A real breakthrough season for him, especially when his coach Robin Peterson admitted he had only seen him play in the nets before picking him to play for the Warriors. His 44 with a strike rate of 141.93 last season against the Dolphins was hugely impressive and it was only his second game for the franchise. All teams need an x-factor player and without a doubt, the Warriors x-factor player for this year’s competition will be Tristan Stubbs.

Jacques Snyman (ITEC Knights)

He may well have struggled in his time for the Proteas on their tour to Pakistan this year but Jacques is still arguably one of the best batsmen to clear the boundary in SA domestic cricket. His off-season in Ireland where he averaged 59.85 at a strike rate of 214.87 for Carrick CC in their T20 competition will have gone a long way to getting his confidence back. He will hope that those performances can be transferred to this competition.

Andile Mogakane (HollywoodBets Tuskers)

Andile is another player on this list who has played for SA at under 19 level. He has shown huge potential with bat and ball, even if his stats might not quite support that just yet. I think he may well surprise some people, especially with the bat. You only need to see his performances against the Dolphins in the warm-up match played against a bowling attack that included Thando Ntini and Daryn Dupavillon when he smacked the ball very impressively and it went a long way to helping Tuskers winning that match. It was a pre-season game but he still found the boundary with regular familiarity.

Bamanye Xenxe (Mpumalanga Rhinos)

Exactly three years ago to the day when this competition will be starting Bamanye Xenxe scored 51* off 34 balls for Border against a Gauteng side that included Carmi Le Roux, Nandre Burger, Wiaan Mulder and Zanzima Pongolo. He also took 3/27 in the same game, where he dismissed the Gauteng captain, Mangi Mosehle.

I mention this because a couple of months ago his current coach Gordon Matheson said there are some similarities between Bamanye and Andile Phehlukwayo and not just because of both bat left-handed but bowl right-handed. He is clearly one to watch. 

Jurie Snyman (Easterns Storm)

I add another left-handed batsman here and a man that is probably not known by a lot of the fans out there. His team may well struggle to get out of the group stages but despite that, I think Jurie could perform well himself. He strikes the ball well and is a good timer as well. He likes to score quickly rather than being an anchor, which is needed in this format. His off-breaks, which have hardly been seen in T20 cricket, are also very decent as well. Overall, an underrated cricketer by many but might not be after this competition. 

Daniel Smith (Western Province)

Daniel Smith, a former SA under 19 captain who is still 19 is in the WP Squad for this competition. He is someone with huge potential who I predict may well go far in his career and is one to keep an eye out for. He dominated schools’ cricket at SACS and took to club cricket like a duck to water, making hundreds from the start and hasn’t looked back since.

NB: At the time of writing the SA under 19 side had not been announced but I expect there will be many talented cricketers to look out for in that squad.