South Africa’s next crop of rising stars will be in the spotlight when Season 3 of Betway SA20 kicks off on Thursday, 9 January. The League has fast become the hotbed for young cricketers to develop and showcase their skills, as they learn from and compete against some of the best cricketers in the world.
The introduction of the Rookie draft in Season 2 was a promising success, with five of the six rookies selected being retained in Season 3 squads.
The League’s commitment to exposing more young players is further illustrated with the Betway SA20 Rising Star Award – which is awarded to a player aged under 25 who delivers impressive performances.
Pretoria Capitals allrounder Eathan Bosch was the inaugural winner of the award followed by Sunrisers Eastern Cape’s Marco Jansen in Season 2.
Betway SA20 ambassador AB de Villiers has cast his keen eye for talent across the six teams and identified a group of players that he believes could potentially set Season 3 alight.
“Bryce Parsons, the Durban’s Super Giants up-and-coming star is a very powerful top order left-handed batter, he hits the ball a country mile. He reminds me a little bit of David Miller. So, when Bryce Parsons get going it is fun out there,” De Villiers said.
De Villiers has also kept a close watch on Sunrisers Eastern Cape’s Jordan Hermann.
“He’s a definitely future star of the game. What a wonderful player, very easy on the eye and I’ve tipped him as a very good star for the future, especially in that Proteas setup. Keep an eye out for him,” De Villiers said.
De Villiers has also backed Hermann’s SEC teammate Andile Simelane, who has already represented the Proteas Men’s team in white-ball cricket this past home international summer, for a breakout season.
“What a quality all-rounder for the Sunrisers Eastern Cape. He hasn’t played a lot of cricket in the Betway SA20 but hopefully Season 3 will be a big breakthrough for him where he plays a lot of games and wins a lot of games for the Sunrisers Eastern Cape.
“He’s a very handy all-rounder, wins you matches with both bat and ball and I cannot wait to watch him perform.”
De Villiers also feels that Season 3 will see the best of MI Cape Town prodigy Dewald Brevis.
“He’s my hot favourite. I do tip this guy to win this award. I have been saying good things about his cricket for a very long time now and I do believe the Betway SA20 Season 3 is his season to perform,” he said.
De Villiers has also highlighted Joburg Super Kings duo Gerald Coetzee and JP King for big seasons, claiming this could be the year Coetzee tops the Betway SA20 wicket-takers list, while he’s also been impressed with Pretoria Capitals’ Steve Stolk’s power-hitting ability.
There are two further exciting prospects in Paarl Royals duo Kwena Maphaka and Nqaba Peter.
Both have seen their stocks rise significantly over the past 12 months with Maphaka and Nqaba having already made their mark with the Proteas’ Men’s team.
De Villiers feel they are ready to utilise that experience by shining for the Paarl Royals.
“Maphaka, the young left-arm fast bowler who can bowl it at the speed of light, who will be running out for the Paul Royals is definitely a prospect for the Rising Star Award,” he said.
“Equally, Nqaba Peter is a great prospect for the future of the Proteas setup.”
The first match of the season will see defending champions Sunrisers Eastern Cape host MI Cape Town at St George’s Park in Gqeberha on Thursday.
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