The Paarl Rocks will lock horns with the Tshwane Spartans at their home ground in what will be the fourth match of the Mzansi Super League. The pitch at Paarl is not considered to be very high scoring and 155 often turns out to be a par score at this venue, despite the fact that the ground has pretty small boundaries.
The home side, Paarl Rocks, have a couple of big names—Faf du Plesis and Dwayne Bravo—in their squad. The former has been appointed the captain of the side but he will be unavailable for the first fixture due to national duty. Henry Davids is expected to lead the side in his absence. Paarl's strength lies in its batsmen and all-rounders. Faf du Plessis, Cameron Delport, Aiden Markram, Dwayne Bravo, David Wiese and Vaughn Jaarsveld are expected to set the tournament on fire. Their bowling unit is pretty decent too but the duo of Tabraiz Shamsi and Dane Paterson are mainly expected to lead the attacking charge.
The Tshwane Spartans, on the other hand, are coming into this match on the back of a defeat in their very first encounter of the tournament against Cape Town Blitz. AB de Villiers did light up the match with his 30-ball blitz of 59 runs but that didn't prove to be enough for them to win the match. Their bowlers found it tough to keep the run flow in check and pick up wickets. And the batsmen, except de Villiers and Dean Elgar,
The Paarl Rocks will lock horns with the Tshwane Spartans at their home ground in what will be the fourth match of the Mzansi Super League. The pitch at Paarl is not considered to be very high scoring and 155 often turns out to be a par score at this venue, despite the fact that the ground has pretty small boundaries.
The home side, Paarl Rocks, have a couple of big names—Faf du Plesis and Dwayne Bravo—in their squad. The former has been appointed the captain of the side but he will be unavailable for the first fixture due to national duty. Henry Davids is expected to lead the side in his absence. Paarl's strength lies in its batsmen and all-rounders. Faf du Plessis, Cameron Delport, Aiden Markram, Dwayne Bravo, David Wiese and Vaughn Jaarsveld are expected to set the tournament on fire. Their bowling unit is pretty decent too but the duo of Tabraiz Shamsi and Dane Paterson are mainly expected to lead the attacking charge.
The Tshwane Spartans, on the other hand, are coming into this match on the back of a defeat in their very first encounter of the tournament against Cape Town Blitz. AB de Villiers did light up the match with his 30-ball blitz of 59 runs but that didn't prove to be enough for them to win the match. Their bowlers found it tough to keep the run flow in check and pick up wickets. And the batsmen, except de Villiers and Dean Elgar, weren't up to the mark as well. So they would be hoping for a better showing this time around in order to gain winning momentum.
Conditions: Clear sky. Dew can play a big part. No chance of rain.
Player Recommendations:
Wicket-keeper: Gihahn Cloete (8 Cr)
South Africa's tour of Australia ends on Saturday with the one-off T20I but Quinton de Kock may still not be available to play Spartans' second match against Paarl on Sunday evening. That makes Cloete the first-choice keeper batsman once again for his side. He didn't do well in the previous match but he has proved before what he is capable of. He was the leading run scorer in Momentum One Day Cup last year. So ignoring him could prove to be costly considering that he opens the batting.
Batsman: AB de Villiers (11 Cr)
Picking AB de Villiers is a no-brainer. He lit up the tournament with a sparkling 30-ball 59 in the first encounter against Cape Town Blitz. That was preceded by a 31-ball 93 against the Jozi Stars in a warm up game as well. So he can be expected to continue his good run of form in the upcoming matches as well.
All-rounder: Dwayne Bravo (10 Cr)
The Caribbean all-rounder is gearing up to set another T20 League on fire with his bowling swag, batting spark and dancing moves. The fact that he will bowl all his four overs and stands a chance to pick up wickets with his wide range of variations, makes him an absolute must have in the squad. Add to that his ability to score valuable runs with the bat lower down the middle order and you have a fantasy gem in your hands.
Bowler: Dane Paterson (8.5 credits)
Dane Paterson is expected to lead Paarl's bowling charge in absence of bowlers like Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi for their opening encounter. A strike rate of 19.0 and average of 23.05 in 66 T20 matches make him an attractive pick with the ball in hand.
Captain: AB de Villiers
Vice-captain: Dwayne Bravo
