West Indies all-rounder Kieron Pollard can add Bloem City Blazers to his long list of T20 teams, after he was picked by Bloemfontein as the first overseas marquee player at South Africa’s T20 Global League draft on Saturday.
Pollard was one of three West Indians among the first five marquee picks. Chris Gayle was taken third by Cape Town Knight Riders, while Dwayne Bravo was taken fifth by Pretoria Mavericks. Squeezed in between was Brendon McCullum, the second pick, snapped up by Jo’Burg Giants, and Eoin Morgan who was taken fourth by Durban Qalandars. There will be several other West Indians taking part, including Dwayne Smith and Rayad Emrit (Bloem City), Denesh Ramdin (Cape Town) and Nicholas Pooran (Jo’burg Giants).
Kevin Pietersen will return to South African cricket with Nelson Mandela Bay Stars, after he was taken sixth by the Port Elizabeth-based franchise. England batsman Jason Roy was taken seventh by Benoni Zalmi and Lasith Malinga was assigned to Stellenbosch Monarchs by default as last designated marquee player available.
The international marquee players joined the local marquee players who had already been assigned to each of the eight franchises, and yesterday the teams participated in a much larger draft—to pick their remaining 16 players. Out of each squad of 18, there could be a maximum of five internationals and a minimum of two players from the rookie category.
Shahid Afridi, who struck his maiden T20 hundred—101 off 43 balls—earlier this week in the NatWest T20 Blast, will miss the T20 Global League because of his commitments with Dhaka Dynamites in the Bangladesh Premier League. Another Pakistan player Junaid Khan, who was picked by Nelson Mandela Bay Stars in the draft, also said he would be playing the BPL instead which clashes with the T20 Global League.
SOUTH AFRICA T20 GLOBAL LEAGUE
TEAMS
BENONI ZALMI: Quinton de Kock (local marquee), Jason Roy (international marquee), Albie Morkel, Wahab Riaz, Umar Akmal, Lungi Ngidi, David Wiese, Eddie Leie, Pite van Biljon, Leus du Plooy, Dillon du Preez, Dean Elgar, Mohammad Nawaz, George Linde, Rivaldo Moonsamy, Calvin Savage, Carmi le Roux, Tshepo Moreki.
BLOEM CITY BLAZERS: David Miller (local marquee), Kieron Pollard (international marquee), Dane Paterson, Chris Jordan, Dwayne Smith, Shaun von Burg, Aaron Phangiso, Morne Van Wyk, Beuran Hendricks, Theunis de Bruyn, Janneman Malan, Ryan ten Doeschate, Clyde Fortuin, Rayad Emrit, Werner Coetsee, Yaseen Vallie, Akhona Mnyaka, Keegan Petersen.
CAPE TOWN KNIGHT RIDERS: JP Duminy (local marquee), Chris Gayle (international marquee), Dale Steyn, Adil Rashid, Tom Curran, Rassie van der Dussen, James Vince, Dwaine Pretorius, Jason Smith, Rudi Second, Rory Kleinveldt, Malusi Siboto, Denesh Ramdin, Thomas Kaber, Senuran Muthusamy, Dayyaan Galiem, Pieter Malan, Aviwe Mgijima.
DURBAN QALANDARS: Hashim Amla (local marquee), Eoin Morgan (international marquee), Chris Morris, Sam Billings, Mitchell McClenaghan, Bjorn Fortuin, Mohammad Hafeez, Fakhar Zaman, Junior Dala, Qaasim Adams, Migael Pretorius, Nicky van der Bergh, Prenelan Subrayen, Kelly Smuts, Marques Ackerman, Daryn Dupavillon, Mthokozisi Shezi, Cody Chetty.
JO’BURG GIANT: Kagiso Rabada (local marquee), Brendon McCullum (international marquee), Colin Ingram, Vernon Philander, Andile Phehlukwayo, Chris Jonker, Temba Bavuma, Patrick Kruger, Yasir Shah, Nicholas Pooran, Duanne Olivier, Jonathan Vandiar, Roelof van der Merwe, Andries Gous, Rabian Englebrecht, Dane Piedt, Andre Malan, Zubayr Hamza.
NELSON MANDELA BAY STARS: Imran Tahir (local marquee), Kevin Pietersen (international marquee), JJ Smuts, Aiden Markram, Anwar Ali, Heinrich Klaasen, Junaid Khan, Dawid Malan, Sisanga Magala, Heino Kuhn, Andrew Birch, Colin Ackermann, Shadley van Schalkwyk, Sibonelo Makhanya, Wihan Lubbe, Grant Thomson, Lesiba Ngoepe, Ryan Rickleton.
PRETORIA MAVERICKS: AB de Villiers (local marquee), Dwayne Bravo (international marquee), Morne Morkel, Farhaan Behardien, Dane Vilas, Robbie Frylinck, Keshav Maharaj, Johan Botha, Vaughn van Jaarsveld, Steven Finn, Reeza Hendricks, Diego Rosier, Khaya Zondo, Eldred Hawken, Basheer Walters, Stephan Myburgh, Tony de Zorzi, Kyle Nipper.
STELLENBOSCH MONARCHS: Faf du Plessis (local marquee), Lasith Malinga (international marquee), Alex Hales, Tabraiz Shamsi, Wayne Parnell, Imad Wasim, Henry Davids, Mangaliso Mosehle, Willem Mulder, Justin Ontong, Ryan McLaren, Brendan Taylor, Lizaad Williams, Jeevan Mendis, Rowan Richards, Craig Alexander, Grant Mokoena, Kyle Simmonds
