Rassie van der Dussen was South Africa’s second-highest run-scorer in T20s in 2024. He stood in as captain for the side in the absence of Aiden Markram. Yet, it wasn’t enough for him to earn a place in the squad for the T20 World Cup in the USA and West Indies.
As he sat on the sidelines, he watched the Proteas reach the final but lose to India in heartbreaking manner.
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“Yeah, I’ll be honest, it was a tough one. I had a great year in T20 cricket, leading up to that World Cup especially. I’ve never said I should have been there in place of anyone. I just felt like it was a tough one. In a 15-man squad, always with ICC events, if there’s only 15 guys, some guys are going to miss out that you feel deserve it. But it is what it is. It’s sport. The guys did really well and made us proud,” he said on missing the spot in the T20 World Cup on Wednesday after Paarl Royals‘ win over MI Cape Town in the SA20.
“But that opened some opportunities for me to go to leagues. That’s something I’ll look to do for a few years and see where I go. My first priority always has been to play for the Proteas. What I don’t know is when that stops, how long I’ll keep playing leagues. I’m not sure,” he added on future plans.
Van der Dussen has played for multiple T20 leagues in the world and represented numerous franchises such as MI Cape Town, Rajasthan Royals, Islamabad United, Lahore Qalandars, St Kitts and Nevis Patriots, Toronto Nationals and Vancouver Knights spanning South Africa, India, Pakistan, the Caribbean and Canada.
He’s taken learnings from each league and used it to help his career with emphasis being on playing for South Africa. One such learning is to quicken the innings.
“I think I’ve taken a conscious decision to try and, especially if I’m opening the batting, put the bowlers under pressure. I’ve always sort of, in the last few years, been looked at as that guy who bats through. I’ve got the game, I feel, to really do what some of the other guys around the world are doing regarding hitting boundaries, especially up front. Against spin I’ve worked hard on boundary options. I feel that’s also come a long way. Playing in the T10 leagues has helped me a lot with that. But yeah, it was a conscious decision.
“I’m going into my latter years now. Faf (du Plessis) is inspiring me, even he’s always adapting and trying to renew his game and so forth. So pretty much similar for me,” he acknowledged.
That approach and desire to earn spot in the South Africa squad saw him score 91 runs from 64 balls laced with five boundaries and as many sixes. Yet, it wasn’t enough for the win.
Lhuan-dre Pretorius smashed his second fifty of the third season of the SA20 and played a pivotal role in Royals’ win over MI Cape Town in the Cape Derby at Boland Park.
Pretorius smashed three sixes and eight boundaries during his 52-ball 83 to add to his 97 on debut at the same ground. The 18-year-old has quickly thrown his name up in the order for selection into the national team.
Paarl Royals skipper David Miller joined the middle when they were 101/2 in the 13th over. At the time, the equation read 58 runs to get from 43 balls. Even though Pretorius stood in the middle, the task wasn’t easy against the likes of Azmatullah Omarzai, Trent Boult, Kagiso Rabada, Rashid Khan, George Linde who collectively bowled 35 dot balls.
Pretorius fell by the wayside to see the score become 136/3 after 17 overs. So, 23 to get from 18 balls. The tricky situation wasn’t lost on Miller.
“I love winning games for whatever team I play for. And especially here, it can get very difficult to bat in the middle towards the back end. So getting off to great starts the way that we have the first game and this game is wonderful. And it’s just about really making sure that we really finish off well. The balls just somehow disappear. So you just got to stay on top of that. And it’s a matter of just being really selfish in a way and wanting to finish the game off every time. So it was really enjoyable,” he said explaining his celebrations.
“I take a lot of pride in that. Work hard in the middle order to try and finish off games for the team. It doesn’t sometimes look glamorous, but it’s certainly rewarding,” he added on the 6-wicket win.
