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COUNTING DOWN THE BETWAY SA20 MVP TOP 50: Players 50 to 41

6 Apr 20244 mins

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, starting with numbers 41-50.

All told, there are five bowlers among this cohort, as well as three batters and two allrounders.

Five of the six SA20 teams are represented but Paarl Royals feature most prominently with four players, namely batters Wihan Lubbe and Mitchell van Buuren, allrounder Andile Phehlukwayo and fast bowler Obed McCoy.

While Reeza Hendricks (Joburg Super Kings) and the Pretoria Capitals pair of Daryn Dupavillon and Eathan Bosch (the Rising Star of Season 1) had Season 1 experience, four players ranked between 41-50 made their SA20 bow this year.

McCoy was signed to play in the inaugural season, but injury kept him off the park for Royals. This campaign his left-armers claimed nine wickets in 10 matches to help the boys in pink to the playoffs. His best of 2/18 came in their home win over MI Cape Town in Cape Derby.

Imran Tahir showed that there’s still mileage left in his now 45-year-old legs. The T20 stalwart played in all 11 of JSK’s matches as their Wildcard, taking his T20 match tally over the 400 mark. Meanwhile, his leg-spinners yielded nine wickets with a best of 2/13 against MI Cape Town and an economy rate of 7.61. Tahir legendary celebrations were also on full display, no more notably than when he took two incredible catches against Paarl Royals in the Eliminator.

FEATURE: FROM IMMY WITH LOVE

Fellow leg-spinner Thomas Kaber was among the surprise packages of Season 2. Signed by MI Cape Town for his base price during the auction, and playing in the second tier domestically, the 31-year-old may have been considered a ‘punt’ by MICT coach Robin Peterson. It proved to be a good one as Rashid Khan’s injury-enforced absence opened up a berth for a spinner. Kaber picked up seven wickets in his eight matches at an economy rate of 7.88, and his best of 3/20 came in the Cape Derby win against Paarl Royals at Newlands.

Liam Dawson, meanwhile, had a dream first SA20 campaign with Sunrisers Eastern Cape, ending it with a winners medal around his neck. The spin-bowling allrounder played in all 11 of Sunrisers’ matches, picking up eight wickets at an economy rate of 7.74. His best with the ball was 2/27 at Paarl Royals while his best batting performance, 29 not out, came in a losing effort at Pretoria Capitals but Dawson did produce a Betway Catch R2 Million winner in the process.