Mzansi Super League: 5 stars to keep an eye out for in Nelson Mandela Bay Giants
Nelson Mandela Bay Giants is a T20 franchise team based in St George's Cricket ground, Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Nelson Mandela Bay Giants are one of the six teams participating in Mzansi Super League (MSL) organized by Cricket South Africa. South African cricket board-owned T20 league MSL is going to feature many renowned national and international cricketers during its inaugural season this year.
MSL is scheduled to commence on 16th November and will culminate after one month on 16th December.
International superstars like Rashid Khan, Eoin Morgan, Dwayne Bravo, Chris Gayle, and Jason Roy have confirmed their participation in the inaugural season of MSL. The above-mentioned players are categorized as International marquee players in the league. Each of the six teams has one international marquee player in their ranks.
Apart from an overseas marquee player, each team also comprises of one South African marquee player. AB de Villiers, Imran Tahir, Faf du Plessis, Hashim Amla, JP Duminy, and Kagiso Rabada are the designated Proteas marquee players in the league.
Port Elizabeth based franchise, Nelson Mandela Bay Giants is one of the most balanced sides in the tournament. The experience of international players like Imran Tahir, Chris Morris, Jason Roy is going to help the team's cause enormously. JJ Smuts will be leading Nelson Mandela Bay Giants this season.
The side also features exciting new talents like Junior Dala, Ben Duckett, and Christian Jonker who are consistent performers in the domestic arena and recently managed to make the cut for national squads. Jonker and Dala in particular debuted for South Africa in T20I series earlier this year against India and put up impressive performances.
The Nelson Mandela Bay Giants squad for this season's MSL -
JJ Smuts (Captain), Christiaan Jonker, Jason Roy (International Marquee), Marco Marais, Ben Duckett (Foreign Overseas), Heino Kuhn (Overseas Kolpak), Rudi Second, Chris Morris, Ryan McLaren. Carmi le Roux, Junior Dala, Lizaad Williams, Sisanda Magala, Aaron Phangiso, Dylan Matthews (Rookie) and Imran Tahir (Proteas Marquee)
5 star players from Nelson Mandela Bay Giants team to keep an eye out for are-
#5 Marco Marais(South Africa)
25-year-old Marco Marais came into the limelight for the first time when he scored the fastest triple century in first-class cricket in November 2017 playing against Eastern province team as a part of Sunfoil 3-day cup. He scored 300 runs from just 191 deliveries in that innings and remained unbeaten.
Since playing that majestic innings, he is being touted as next big thing across the South African cricketing circles. He has an impressive career strike rate of 150.39 in T20 matches, which proves his hitting credentials.
He is a relatively unknown player in the league who has the potential to be a standout performer of the tournament and gain international acclaim.