COUNTING DOWN THE BETWAY SA20 MVP TOP 50: Players 40 to 31

At the conclusion of Betway SA20 Season 2, Heinrich Klaasen was confirmed as the Betway Player of the Season, but the strength of the League is evident by the world class performances and consistency of players throughout the top 50.

For the campaign, the League partnered with cricket’s leading analytics specialists, CricViz, to use their unique Most Valuable Player (MVP) data science model to help rank the players across the season.

The CricViz MVP model is a performance evaluation measure that is used to assess the performance of players across different roles (batting, bowling and fielding) and phases of the game. Additionally, players are rewarded for winning the match, with the captain of the winning team receiving an additional bonus.

Over the coming weeks, we will be recapping the top 50, having already reviewed numbers 41-50 in the first instalment.

In Part 2 of this series, we take a closer look at the players from 40 to 31 during Season 2 of the League.

It is the spinners who dominate this segment with the quartet of Simon Harmer (31), Bjorn Fortuin (32), Tabraiz Shamsi (34) and George Linde (39) all included.

Five of the six SA20 teams are represented with only the Pretoria Capitals missing out. Durban’s Super Giants feature most prominently with four players. This is particularly due to the performances of their overseas contingent of Naveen-ul-Haq (34), Marcus Stoinis (36) and Reece Topley (40), while Quinton de Kock (38) also makes the list.

WHO RANKS WHERE: The entire Season 2 list

Australian World Cup winner Stoinis was particularly impactful during his brief stay with the eventual runners-up as he collected 10 wickets in just five matches for DSG to lift his bowling tally to 50.58 points and overall total of 64.68.

Equally, England seamer Topley and his Afghanistan counterpart Naveen-ul-Haq impressed with 13 and eight wickets apiece.

And although De Kock had a relatively quiet campaign in comparison to Season 1 when he was the competition’s fifth highest run-scorer, 'Quinnie' did manage to smash a match-winning 83 not out against the Royals at Boland Park.

JSK’s Donovan Ferreira (37) left his mark on Season 2 with 56 not out off just 20 balls in 'The Big City Derby' against the crosstown rivals Pretoria Capitals.

At the time, Ferreira’s half-century off just 18 balls (6x4, 3x6) was the fastest in the competition before being bettered later on by Klaasen. The blitzkrieg innings included a massive 106-metre strike, which prompted former England great Kevin Pietersen to exclaim “Are you joking!” on commentary.

Meanwhile, Harmer kept his best performance for his former team after being traded by DSG in the off-season with a match-winning haul of 4/18 at Kingsmead.

ALSO READ: How Harmer tamed Klaasen

His Sunrisers Eastern Cape teammate Patrick Kruger had a debut SA20 season to remember as he formed an integral part of the back-to-back champions’ squad, contributing massively to their win over the Paarl Royals at St George’s Park with an unbeaten 25 from just seven deliveries.

The Royals' fans down in Paarl were also once again treated to a spin bonanza from Fortuin and Shamsi, with the latter not only entertaining the crowd with his wickets but also his magic trick celebrations which went viral especially after the MI Cape Town home match.

POSITIONS 31 - 40

40. Reece Topley (Durban's Super Giants) - 61.63

39. George Linde (MI Cape Town) - 62.95

38. Quinton de Kock (Durban's Super Giants) - 63.76

37. Donovan Ferreira (Joburg Super Kings) - 63.90

36. Marcus Stoinis (Durban's Super Giants) - 64.48

35. Tabraiz Shamsi (Paarl Royals) - 65.43

34. Naveen-ul-Haq (Durban's Super Giants) - 67.29

33. Patrick Kruger (Sunrisers Eastern Cape) - 68.83

32. Bjorn Fortuin (Paarl Royals) - 68.86

31. Simon Harmer (Sunrisers Eastern Cape) - 69.28