KEP PERFORMER Marco Jansen of Sunrisers Eastern Cape celebrates the wicket of Faf Du Plessis of Joburg Super Kings. Picture: Ron Gaunt/Sportzpics
Image: Ron Gaunt/Sportzpics
As the SA20 approaches the playoffs stage next week, there have been a number of standout players in season three of the competition.
As it stands, the Paarl Royals top the table with 24 points from seven matches courtesy of their six wins.
MI Cape Town are in second three points behind, while Sunrisers Eastern Cape are third with 19.
Completing the fourth and final playoff spot are the Joburg Super Kings with 15 points.
Here are five players that have been setting the tone in the SA20.
The England cricket star Joe Root currently leads the run-scoring charts with 279 at an average of 69 and strike-rate of 140 for the Paarl Royals. Though he has not scored a century, his top score of 92 is one of just three scores in the 90s notched up by batsmen this season. The 34-year-old does however have a tournament-leading three 50s to his name.
The fast-bowling allrounder Marco Jansen is the joint leading wicket-taker with 12 sticks in his eight matches. With a best of 4/13 he averages 15 per wicket at a respectable T20 economy rate of 6.13. His efforts with the bat have also seen him record a high score of 51, and 164 runs in total at an average of 32. The exploits of the 24-year-old Proteas left-arm bowler have seen him top the Most Valuable Player rankings chart.
Lhuan-dre Pretorius is perhaps the biggest headline-grabber in this year’s competition, the 18-year-old batting sensation has bludgeoned 258 runs at a quite incredible strike-rate of 176. He also holds the top score of this year’s competition with his knock of 97 for the Paarl Royals on January 11.
As one of the Proteas squad members for the Champions Trophy, it’s been encouraging to see the experienced 35-year-old Rassie van der Dussen pile on the runs on a regular basis for MI Cape Town. Van Der Dussen has a top score of 91, as he has scored 252 runs at an average of 50. The only area he may want to improve is his strike-rate of 128.
Aiden Markram as a key member of the Proteas squad, it’s been important he spend as much time in the middle as possible in the shortest format of the game. Though he’s made three ducks in the competition this season, he has offset that by scoring two fifties and 243 runs in total. His average of 40 is also impressive.