Cape Town - The Cricket South Africa T20 Challenge Division 1 kicks off on Monday in Potchefstroom. Zaahier Adams looks at five youngsters, besides Dewald Brevis, to keep a close eye on this week.
1. Matthew Boast (Titans)
The all-rounder has improved in leaps and bounds under coach Shukri Conrad’s mentorship since last year’s Under-19 World Cup in the Caribbean. He dominated the past weekend’s CSA Division 2 T20 Challenge where he played a leading role in the SA U19s lifting the trophy. The former St Charles pupil was the tournament's second highest wicket-taker (nine wickets at 14.60 with an economy of 6.40) and was also runner-up on the run-scorers list (141 runs at an average of 28.20 and strike-rate of 180).
2. Liam Alder (Lions)
The King Edward VII High School Matric learner is showing off experience far beyond his years. The left-arm spinner has not been afraid to bowl in tough situations and has mostly come out on top - like he did when he finished as the leading wicket-taker in the CSA Division 2 T20 Challenge with 11 wickets at an average of 9.40 and economy rate of 5.60 for the SA U19s.
3. Khwezi Gumede (Rocks)
Despite still being just 23-years-old, the left-arm seamer is much travelled. Having originally come through KwaZulu-Natal’s youth structures, Gumede packed his bags for SA’s capital where he played a few games for the Titans. Gumede, though, is now ready to launch his professional career properly under JP Duminy in Paarl with the Rocks.
4. Abdallah Bayoumy (WP)
It's been an absolute whirlwind past 10 months for the teenager from Cape Town. Bayoumy did not even originally cut the grade for the Western Province U18 Khaya Majola team, despite Province’s youth team having already been under-strength due to a host of players on international duty for the SA U19s at the World Cup. It was only due to a late Covid-19 withdrawal that Bayoumy was drafted into the team. From that moment the hard-hitting all-rounder has not looked back, converting his opportunities with massive performances that saw him selected for the SA Colts side and later the SA U19s. His possesses oodles of talent, and will now take a further step up with the WP senior team.
5. Andile Simelane (Dolphins)
Big things are expected from the 19-year-old all-rounder. Simelane is another of the exciting talents to emerge from last year's SA U19 World Cup squad. Strongly built and athletic, Simelane took arguably the catch of the tournament when he held on to a stunner at second slip against Sri Lanka. Simelane is a true example of CSA’s development programme reaping rewards, having come started playing Mini-Cricket, through the Hub systems, and now into senior provincial cricket.
@ZaahierAdams