No clarity yet on yo-yo man Tahir
T20 LEAGUE: SPINNER STILL TO BE ALLOCATED A TEAM
Eight marquee stars will learn their destinations soon.
October is a very interesting month in South African cricket and one of the reasons is because it normally answers the question on which franchise Imran Tahir will be playing for that season.
South Africa’s champion limited-overs bowler has represented the Titans and had a stint with the Highveld Lions between his terms with the Dolphins, for whom he currently plays. But next summer will bring the interesting question as to which franchise Tahir will play for in the new T20 Global Destination League, as he was named yesterday as one of the eight marquee Proteas who will be allocated to teams based in the cities they have either been historically associated with or the cities with which they can build a strong association.
So Tahir could conceivably be based in Centurion, Durban or Johannesburg.
Hashim Amla, who knocked off a dazzling century in the IPL this week, will surely either go to Durban or Cape Town, while there can be no debate over the destinations of AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis (Centurion), JP Duminy (Cape Town) and Kagiso Rabada (Johannesburg).
David Miller is a local KZN boy even though he is now playing for the Knights, and because Bloemfontein is by no means assured of hosting a franchise, the left-handed T20 specialist is likely to be playing for a Durban franchise.
Chris Morris, who perfectly fits the bill as a T20 power all-rounder, can consider himself unfortunate not to be a marquee player, while Morne Morkel has also been overlooked.
Each franchise team will also be allocated an international marquee player from the eight named last week. This means that each team will start with two marquee players in their 17-man squad, while the rest of their roster will be assembled by the team owners and coach in a player draft system.