Dubai: England’s Dawid Malan celebrated his selection into the Nelson Mandela Bay Team, owned by Ajay Sethi, a UAE-based businessman and media entrepreneur, by cracking a fighting half century in the ongoing second Test against West Indies at Leeds. Malan’s knock of 61 runs gave England a big lead in the second innings and probably a chance to force a victory.
South Africa’s inaugural T20 Global League players draft was held in Cape Town on Sunday and this team, which created a sensation by naming their team after the legendary leader Mandela, has strike bowler Imran Tahir as their Maruqee player. This team also roped in the legendary Twenty20 star Kevin Pietersen as their International Marquee player.
Speaking to Gulf News from Cape Town, Sethi said: “We have got a very strong team with KP [Pietersen] and Tahir, who are well suited for the conditions here and with Jon Jon Smuts and Aiden Markram it is a good pick of players and international players like Junaid Khan, Anwar Ali and Heino Kuhn, we look formidable. The high point is the fact that KP is a big crowd-puller and he being South Africa-born wanted to play in Durban as his home, but he got drafted with us and we chose him because he is a friend and wanted to play here.”
What makes this team, that represents the city of Port Elizabeth, special is the management and support team, which will be the brain behind the strategies of the team. They have Mark Boucher as head coach and three greats like Clive Lloyd, Graeme Pollock and Makhaya Ntini as team ambassadors. Indian player Rohan Gavaskar is the media director.
Thirty-two international players and 96 local players were picked by the various franchises. The franchises are Benoni Zalmi, Nelson Mandela Bay stars, Bloem City Blazers, Cape Town Knight Riders, Durban Qalandars, Joburg Giants, Pretoria Mavericks and Stellenbosch Monarchs.
Cape Town is owned by Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan and Joburg Giants by GMR Group that owns Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League.
Protea all-rounder Chris Morris was the first pick by Durban, followed by Dane Paterson by Bloem City Blazers, and explosive Protea bowler Dale Steyn by Cape Town. Aiden Markram, 22, who went to the Nelson Mandela Bay Stars, was the first rookie to be picked, in round two.
