Ken Borland

The second edition of the Northerns Bash will be boosted by the presence of international stars Henry Davids, Farhaan Behardien, Marchant de Lange and Albie Morkel, it was revealed at the auction for the T20 competition at SuperSport Park on Wednesday night.

The four players, all of whom have been key figures in the South African T20 side, have each been snapped up by one of the four squads taking part in the tournament, which will be held from September 11-14 at SuperSport Park.

The inaugural Northerns Bash, which was held in April, was won by the Nashua Tshwane Phantoms, led by Titans stars Roelof van der Merwe, Shaun von Berg, Qaasim Adams and Rowan Richards, and they have now been strengthened by the acquisition of fast bowler De Lange.

The Phantoms now have a pace attack – also featuring JP de Villiers – to match the brilliance of their spin duo of Van der Merwe and Von Berg.

The Global Softech Solutions Gladiators, who were beaten in the final by the Phantoms, are mourning the loss of key bowlers Corbin Bosch and Vincent Moore, but they have gained the finishing skills of Behardien and another useful paceman in Sean Nowak of the champion Tuks team.

The TMM Capital Investments Tornados have lost Nowak as well as lanky off-spinner Ruben Claassen, but they have gained the batting talents of Davids and young star Aiden Markram, as well as Bosch and wrist-spinner Thomas Kaber to boost their attack.

Morkel has marched back into Northerns cricket hungry to succeed in all formats and the most experienced T20 player in the land has linked up with the WAD Holdings Pirates and another formidable all-rounder in David Wiese.

Tournament commissioner Pierre Joubert announced a couple of changes to the format of the competition, with ties in the group stages now being decided through a bowl-out, in which all 11 players in a team will bowl at a set of stumps. A super over will be used in the final in the event of a tie.

The teams will also now be aiming for the bonus point on offer if they beat their opposition inside 16 overs or bowl them out for less than 80% of their own total.

The squads had to include at least one rookie, who must play at least 50% of their matches, and a minimum of four players of colour, with two on the field at all times. They were restricted to choosing a maximum of four players from any one club, and only two Northerns players each, although there was no restriction on Titans representatives.

The current squads will be for the next two editions of the Northerns Bash – in September and next April.

Joubert praised the four team sponsors as well as SA Breweries and Protea Hotels “for really buying into the concept in brilliant fashion”.

Squads

Tornados: H. Kuhn, G. van Buuren, J. Dala, M. Mosehle, T. de Bruyn, H. Davids, A. Markram, C. Bosch, G. Linde, T. Easton, T. Kaber, J. Snyman, C. Letcher, S. Phillips.

Gladiators: C. Pienaar, L. Kgoatle, E. Mbhalati, R. Houbert, S. Dickson, F. Behardien, T. Gouws, R. Sadler, M. Coetzee, B. Mahlangu, S. Nowak, R. Eksteen, J. Malan, E. Jones.

Phantoms: R. van der Merwe, S. von Berg, Q. Adams, R. Richards, B. Schraader, M. de Lange, J. de Villiers, J. Brooker, G. Pike, B. le Roux, E. Links, W. Scott, S. Klopper, D. Rossouw.

Pirates: D. Wiese, H. Klaasen, S. Naidoo, T. Khoza, E. Hawken, A. Morkel, T. Koekemoer, R. Claassen, C. Buitendag, J. Jumat, T. Shamzi, W. van Heerden, W. Britz, D. Foxcroft.

Fixtures

Thursday 11 September: 10:00 Gladiators v Phantoms; 1:30 Pirates v Tornados.

Friday 12 September: 10:00 Gladiators v Pirates; 1:30 Tornados v Phantoms.

Saturday 13 September: 10:00 Phantoms v Pirates; 1:30 Gladiators v Tornados.

Sunday 14 September: 10:00 3rd/4^th playoff; 1:30 Final.

The Titans have introduced an IPL-style (with none of the horrible shady dealings) T20 cricket tournament to conclude the season with four squads bought by commercial sponsors taking part in the Northerns Bash at SuperSport Park in Centurion from April 10-13.

The pleasing aspect of this new T20 competition is that the top club players do get the opportunity to take part as well, with the Titans, Northerns and premier league players auctioned off with each team having a certain number of points to spend.

“You want to give club cricketers bubbling under the first-class sides the opportunity to show what they can do and this tournament does that,” Titans CEO Jacques Faul told The Pretoria News yesterday.

The involvement of established Titans stars like Ethy Mbhalati, Shaun von Berg, Roelof van der Merwe, David Wiese, Heino Kuhn and Mangaliso Mosehle, as well as up-and-coming junior stars like Murray Coetzee, Corbin Bosch and Aiden Markram will ensure that there is plenty of interest in the new event.

The support of the commercial partners – Global Softech Solutions (Gladiators), Nashua Tshwane (Phantoms), WAD Holdings (Pirates) and TMM Capital Investments (Tornados) – has also ensured that the inaugural event makes financial sense and Faul is hopeful that the tournament will take off and grow.

The Phantoms and the Tornados have the most Titans players with five each, while the Gladiators have three and the Pirates have decided to just use the services of national T20 star David Wiese.

Given the nature of T20 cricket and the autumnal pitches, it seems the Phantoms will obviously be the team to beat, boasting four high-quality spinners in Roelof van der Merwe, Shaun von Berg, Eden Links and young Thomas Kaber.

The Tornados have the batting talents of Heino Kuhn, Mangaliso Mosehle, Graeme van Buuren and Theunis de Bruyn to make them strong contenders as well.

The format of the competition is a round-robin leading to a final. With the problems of dew at this time of year, the decision has been made that all the matches will be day games, with two clashes per day.

Titans high performance coach Pierre Joubert has been appointed as the tournament commissioner.

“The purpose of the Bash is to give top players at club level an opportunity to perform at SuperSport Park and to give them a taste of provincial cricket. The Titans also wish to enhance our relationships with commercial partners and attract them to the Titans family,” Joubert said.

“All the commercial partners will have naming rights on the shirts of their team members, and will also get free access to suites for their company for the duration of the RamSlam T20 Challenge next season.

“There is a fresh vibe around SuperSport Park as club and provincial players are talking about the privilege of being part of the Northerns Bash. Some of the companies have asked if they could organise special barbeques and  team mascots and we are naturally very happy for the companies to do that, as it enhances a great fun element and atmosphere at these matches,” said Joubert.

Entrance for all four days of the Northerns Bash will be free.

Squads

Gladiators: Lerato Kgoatle, Cobus Pienaar, Ethy Mbhalati, Andre Malan, Bafana Mahlangu, Sean Dickson, Tertius Gouws, Murray Coetzee, Ryan Houbart, Corbin Bosch, Ruan Sadler, Kabelo Raseleka, Vincent Moore, Janneman Malan, Evan Jones, Ryk Eksteen. Coach – Johan Muller, manager – Leela Yemineni.

Phantoms: Thomas Kaber, Shaun von Berg, Qaasim Adams, JP de Villiers, Eden Links, Patrick Motao, Jason Brooker, Kobus Delport, Sean Phillips, Aiden Markram, Wayne Scott, Blake Schraader, Stefan Klopper, Roelof van der Merwe, Henk Coetzee, Roger Arendse, Rowan Richards. Coach – Nico Martin, manager – Divan Malan.

Pirates: Lesiba Ngoepe, Sash Naidoo, Heinrich Klaasen, David Bunn, David Wiese, Eldred Hawken, Dean Foxcroft, Ryan Cartwright, Cloete Buitendag, Tom Khoza, Wian van Heerden, Schalk van Heerden, Rivaldo Moonsammy, Willem Britz, Abrie Smit, Craig Letcher. Coach – Arno van Wyk, manager – French van Heerden.

Tornados: Heino Kuhn, Mangaliso Mosehle, Graeme van Buuren, Sami Mofokeng, Theunis de Bruyn, Junior Dala, Lucas Manzini, Regardt Verster, Gerry Pike, Jacques Snyman, Gerhard Linde, Thean Schutte, Niki Bouwer, Tyler Easton, Sean Nowak, Ruben Claassen. Coach – Pierre de Bruyn, manager – Aldin Smith.