Players’ US sojourn helps Proteas’ WC prospects

The new Major League Cricket (MLC) tournament has given South Africa’s prospective World Cup-bound players much needed game time, while also achieving its initial goal of garnering attention in the US.

Its inaugural season has certainly delivered on quality, with the nine Proteas who participated among the best performers. Up to five could feature in tomorrow morning’s final (2.30am South African time) between the Seattle Orcas and MI New York. 

The Orcas, captained by Wayne Parnell — with both Heinrich Klaasen and Quinton de Kock in the side — took a bite out of the competition, winning five of their six matches. De Kock’s unbeaten 88 off just 50 balls propelled Seattle into the final in a dominant performance in the first match of the tournament’s play-off series against the Texas Super Kings. 

That innings was a timely reminder that De Kock, despite being inconsistent for much of the year, remains an important part of the Proteas’ plans at the top of the order. 

Klaasen has continued the magnificent form he has shown for most of 2023, becoming the first player to score a century in the MLC. The 31-year-old has virtually cemented his World Cup spot, having this year made centuries in the SA20 and IPL, along with the fourth fastest One-day International (ODI) hundred by a Proteas batter against West Indies.  

Parnell has emerged as the frontrunner for the seam bowling all-rounder’s spot, taking eight wickets in the MLC, while his leadership of Seattle and the Pretoria Capitals in the SA20 provides an extra string to his bow.

Kagiso Rabada and Dewald Brevis could both feature for New York in the final, although Rabada played just three matches — dropping out of the side because it had filled its international quota of six, primarily with batters.

Brevis was the main beneficiary of that tactical tweak, making the most of the opportunity with significant contributions in the last two matches, scoring 51 and then an unbeaten 47 in the playoffs.

Proteas limited-overs coach Rob Walter will be delighted with the impact the players have made. With no competitive cricket for South Africa since the start of April, he has demanded that the Proteas, when playing in various leagues, be at the forefront of their teams’ challenges in those competitions.

Brevis and Gerald Coetzee, who played for the Texas Super Kings, have also given Walter a selection headache, with their performances in the US, making them worthy of consideration for the series with Australia next month.

Having made his ODI debut earlier this year, Coetzee has used the MLC, where he has claimed eight wickets, and the SA A tour to Sri Lanka in June, where he produced with both bat and ball, to strongly push his case.

The Proteas start their preparation for the Australian tour at a four-day training camp at the Centre Of Excellence in Tshwane from August 8. Australia will play three T20 Internationals, all in Durban, and five ODIs, which will be both sides’ final outings before the World Cup in India. 

This season is about giving a taste to people

—  Anurag Jain, owner of Texas Super Kings

The gap between international matches for the Proteas will reach five months by the time they play the first T20 match at Kingsmead on August 30, which has forced Walter to get creative by holding skills camps for the players.

Those like captain Temba Bavuma, who have not been contracted by any of the T20 leagues or by an English county, have had to make the best of those sessions.

The US sojourn for many of the players has certainly been beneficial, and although it has not been the lead story on ESPN or in any of the major sports media outlets in the US, MLC has satisfied its financial backers with the impression it has made in its first season. 

The competition has seen sold-out crowds at the two venues where matches have been played — in Morrisville, North Carolina, and Grand Prairie, a suburb in Dallas, Texas. That the venues only seat 3,000 and 7,200 spectators, respectively, shouldn’t be used as a stick with which to beat the tournament. 

Starting small was deliberate. “This season is about giving a taste to people,” Anurag Jain, one of the owners of the Texas Super Kings, told local media. 

It was still treated by the major US media outlets as something of a novelty event, but there was recognition of the skills and competitiveness on display.

Next year Jain hopes that the tournament will be played in four venues with expansion to a full competition that includes home and away matches the main goal thereafter.