BETWAY SA20 LEFTIES SIMMONDS AND FORTUIN TO TAKE CENTRE STAGE IN CSA 4-DAY FINAL

Betway SA20 stars Bjorn Fortuin and Kyle Simmonds are shaping up to take centre stage in Cricket South Africa (CSA) 4-Day Domestic Series Final starting on Wednesday at the Wanderers.

Paarl Royals’ Fortuin and Joburg Super Kings’ Simmonds have been central to their respective domestic unions, the Lions and Western Province fortunes in qualifying for the red-ball showpiece. 

Both left-arm spinners have shown that they are not only economical in SA's premier T20 league, but also have the wit and guile to outfox batters in the longer format too.

They both currently lead the CSA 4-Day wicket-takers charts with 28 wickets apiece. Simmonds, though, has a marginally better average of 26.71 in comparison to Fortuin’s 28.64.

Furthermore, Simmonds has two five-wicket hauls, while Fortuin only has one 'Michelle'. 

Simmonds was particularly impressive in Western Province’s last encounter against the Dolphins from KwaZulu-Natal when he claimed a match-winning 7/39 in the second innings on a docile Newlands track. 

The performance had greater gravitas as it helped WP overtake the Dolphins to book their place in the Final. 

Fortuin, meanwhile, will relish the fact that the Lions managed to gain home ground advantage for the Final. He was particularly effective in his last match at the 'Bullring' when he claimed match figures of 7/210 in the drawn match against Boland.

Fortuin will be joined by fellow SA20 stars Ryan Rickelton, Delano Potgieter (both MI Cape Town), Wiaan Mulder (Durban’s Super Giants), Mitchell van Buuren and Codi Yusuf (both Paarl Royals) in the Lions line-up for the final.

Meanwhile, in the WP team alongside Simmonds will be Tony de Zorzi (DSG), Kyle Verryenne (Pretoria Capitals), Beuran Hendricks (MI Cape Town) and Nandre Burger (JSK).