SANGAKKARA EXPECTING BIG THINGS FROM ROYALS WILDCARD RUBIN HERMANN IN SEASON 4

Kumar Sangakkara knew a few things about playing spin. 

The Sri Lankan legend was a past master at destroying spinners’ careers when they arrived on the tea-loving island. 

His swiftness off movement would see him skip down the pitch with poise before despatching the bowlers back over their heads. 

He would manipulate the lengths further by dropping down on bended knee to sweep both sides of the wicket.

Sangakkara, now in his guise as Director of Cricket at the Paarl Royals, therefore keeps a close eye on how young batters adapt to the surface at the spin-friendly Boland Park home base. 

It played a major role in the Royals securing Rubin Hermann as the team’s Wildcard for Season 4.

“When he came in halfway through our last season, just had this presence about him,” Sangakkara said.

“He has a great organised game and he's got a good balance of touch and power.

“He struggled a little bit in power to start with in terms of what to do with spin, but then he learned so quickly when Noor Ahmed bowled at him and he had just a very specific plan.

“He got out to him in one game, then the next game, he just moved his stance and started his sweeps and his reverse sweeps. So that really shows what a quick learner he is.”

Hermann has been on a hot streak since his breakthrough performances in last season’s Betway SA20.

The left-hander went from being “Jordan Hermann’s older brother” to finishing fifth on the competition’s overall run-scorers’ charts with 333 runs at an average of 41.63 and 128.08 strike-rate.

Proteas national coach Shukri Conrad was suitably impressed with Hermann being called up for his first international duty on the recent tour of Zimbabwe, where he struck his maiden T20I half-century at the Harare Sports Club.

Having had a taste of international cricket, Hermann returned to South Africa where he exploded for South Africa ‘A’ ODI series against their New Zealand counterparts with consecutive scores of 158 not and 109.

These sparkling performances earned the 28-year-old another Proteas opportunity in the upcoming once-off T20I against African neighbours Namibia on Saturday, 11 October at the Namibia Cricket Ground, Windhoek.