The SA20 is an integral financial lifeline for the future of cricket in South Africa. That is the main driving force behind the competition and why South Africa have a depleted Test squad currently competing against New Zealand. 

But, with its lofty and commendable ambitions of being the second-best T20 league in the world, it also serves as a major platform for local players to showcase their diverse skill sets to the world. 

“The big growth I saw this season was the standard of the local talent,” league commissioner Graeme Smith said to the media recently.

“There’s a tier of players that were maybe bubbling under the surface at domestic level for a long time that we saw that really stepped up.”

MI Cape Town’s Ryan Rickelton displayed some of the best T20 form of his life, leading the run-scoring charts with 530 clubbed at an impressive strike rate of 173.77. 

Rickelton’s teammate Thomas Kaber – who plays his domestic cricket at  South Western Districts in the second division of South African cricket – exhibited South Africa’s depth of talent with valiant exhibitions of left-arm unorthodox bowling, clinching seven scalps at a respectable economy of 7.88. 

Heinrich Klaasen of the Durban Super Giants hits the boundary for four. (Photo: Sportpics)

But the very best of the tournament was on display in the final between Sunrisers Eastern Cape (SEC) and Durban’s Super Giants (DSG), which was convincingly won by 89 runs by the former.

From the outset, the outcome of the final rested on who would shine brightest between SEC’s bowling lineup – who ended the tournament with the three leading wicket takers – and DSG’s batting unit, who had four batters in the top 10 leading run scorers. 

Out of the outstanding bunch, Heinrich Klaasen for DSG and Ottniel Baartman for SEC were at the forefront of their respective sides’ success throughout the second season of the SA20. 

At the conclusion of the final, Klaasen was awarded as player of the tournament and batter of the tournament while Baartman – uncapped at international level – duly received the bowler of the tournament award.

Heinrich Klaasen of Durban’s Super Giants hits over the top for six. (Photo: Sportpics)

The moment that mattered

Chasing 205 for victory under lights at Newlands Cricket Ground, DSG were teetering along at 63 for four in the 10th over. The side from Durban needed a mammoth 142 runs in the final 10 overs to get over the line.

With that scenario, in almost every other match the outcome would be a foregone conclusion. 

But with Klaasen having just arrived at the crease, there was a sense of belief. Not quite an expectation, but with more than 14 runs required to the over for 10 overs, hope balanced on the broad shoulders of the 32-year-old. 

It wasn’t to be as a jagging, in-swinging Baartman delivery trapped him leg before wicket off the first ball he faced. And with his dismissal, so departed the aspirations of a DSG victory. 

It meant Klaasen didn’t add to the 447 runs he scored in the tournament at a scarcely believable strike rate of 207.90, while Baartman collected his 18th scalp in only his eighth match at an average of 11.77 and a strike rate of 10.16. 

The two best players in the tournament collided and on this occasion Baartman came out on top. 

Ottniel Baartman of Sunrisers Eastern Cape celebrates the wicket of Heinrich Klaasen of Durban’s Super Giants. (Photo: Sportpics)

Cool and calm Baartman

Baartman has been particularly impressive when bowling in the final few overs. He had a fantastic economy of 6.95 this season.

“When you have someone with the skill set like Ottniel has, especially at the back end of the innings, you take a lot of comfort in that,” his captain, Aiden Markram, said.

“I know from being a batter when you face a gun-death bowler you think those last four overs are meant to go, but then someone nails it then you only scratched to 25-30 in the last four and that momentum change is quite big.

“We’re blessed to have him in our ranks but it speaks to the mindset. He wants it, he wants the tough moments, he wants the tough overs.”

Baartman has been in and around the Proteas setup, having been called up to the Test squad a few years ago. The 30-year-old was also called up to the national squad for the white-ball series against India recently, before withdrawing due to injury, without playing a match. 

The man from Oudtshoorn was impressive in the inaugural season of the SA20 too, taking 12 wickets in seven matches. But this season he shot the lights out. 

According to Baartman, he assumed added responsibility with the ball when two senior bowlers were ruled out through injury before the start of the tournament.

“I took the responsibility up front when we lost a couple of bowlers like [Sisanda] Magala and Craig Overton,” he said. “There was no one else. All the other guys are younger who didn’t play much last season.

“So I took that responsibility myself and it paid off.”

Consistent Klaasen

It’s been an inspired past few months for Klaasen who shone in season one of the SA20, the Indian Premier League as well as last year’s 50-over World Cup for the Proteas. 

Despite his bar-raising form, the destructive batter was left disappointed that his incredible run of performances didn’t amount to a title for DSG, although he hopes to continue his form heading into a T20 World Cup in June this year.

“It’s nice to perform but it’s only nice when your team gets over the line, otherwise the performance means nothing for me,” he said.

“[In the final] I didn’t do anything and that’s not sitting well with me, and I have a long break so it will give me a few sleepless nights 

“But leading into the T20 World Cup there’s a lot of cricket still to be played before it. Hopefully, first of all I get selected, that’s the most important part.

“Performances only count when you win, for me personally. I can get a first-baller and we still win and I’ll still be happy. Rather than a hundred and we lose the game.”

While Klaasen’s match-winning ability has been well known since making his professional debut at Northerns more than 12 years ago, his consistency, which he has now found in abundance, was in question.

Ottniel Baartman of Sunrisers Eastern Cape is bowler of the season. (Photo: Sportpics)

Heinrich Klaasen of Durban’s Super Giants is batter of the season. (Photo: Sportpics)

The batter attributes the regularity of his scoring to “better decision making and execution. It helps if you execute and you have the right plan in mind.

“It took a lot of hard work to get where I am at this moment. At this moment I’m in a good space mentally and I can make good decisions.

“I trust my swing at this moment. This combination seems to be working and hopefully it keeps on going.”

It was his lack of consistency that saw him dropped from national white-ball teams around 2022. However, revived self-belief and the full backing of coaches have seen him grow into arguably the best white-ball batter in the world.

“Everyone needs to go through tough times to figure out who you are as a cricketer and which road you have to take and which roads you have to stay off,” Klaasen said.

“I went from one extreme to the other extreme and I’m happy that I’ve found the right path that I’m on now.” DM