Dolphins announce squad for 2020/21 season

FOLLOWING a strong conclusion to the 2019/2020 season, the Hollywoodbets Dolphins have announced a number of changes to their squad as they welcome in three new players and reward three players from within the strong KZN pipeline.

Coming into the Dolphins set-up from outside the province are two VKB Knights stars, Keegan Petersen and Ottneil Baartman, while young Northerns trailblazer, Ruan de Swardt, also joins the KZN set-up.

Petersen has been a very consistent run scorer across all competitions, and was rewarded with a call-up to the Standard Bank Proteas squad for their recent test series with England, a good indicator that his career is heading on the right trajectory.

ALSO READ: Durban July postponed

Baartman has made the step up from semi-professional cricket to franchise level well and stood out for the Knights in their recent Momentum One Day Cup campaign as he finished as the side’s third highest wicket taker in the competition. Ottneil has shown over the last season that he has what it takes at franchise level. He bowled well for the Knights in the recent One Day Cup and will add good balance to the Dolphins’ bowling line-up.

22 year-old De Swardt has hugely impressive numbers at semi-professional level especially with a batting average of 55 in First Class cricket and 88 in List-A cricket. He is a hugely talented young all-rounder.

The KZN Cricket Union’s highly successful development programme continues to produce future stars, and will this year see Lifa Ntanzi and Andile Mogakane graduate to the Dolphins franchise team. The experienced Mangaliso Mosehle has also been upgraded to a franchise contract following his positive season at Hollywoodbets KZN Inland.

ALSO READ: Online cricket coaching courses offered to 300 township coaches

Unfortunately there is a handful of players that will be leaving the Dolphins including Sibz Makhanya, Okuhle Cele, Calvin Savage and Lwandiswa Zuma.

As part of future planning, stalwart Vaughn van Jaarsveld, has joined the Hollywoodbets KZN Coastal setup and will play an integral part as mentor to some of the exciting young batsmen coming through the KZN pipeline. Left-arm spinner, Smangaliso Nhlebela, has also been retained at semi-professional level and will continue to develop his skills for the different formats.

Hollywoodbets Dolphins coach Imraan Khan is looking forward to hitting the ground running with the squad as soon as they can.

“It’s an exciting group of players to work with,” he said. “There is a lot of potential and the three boys that are coming in are quality players and I am sure they will add another dimension to the group. Andile (Mogakane) and Lifa (Ntanzi) are home grown and we are looking to grow their game’s over the coming months.”

* Notice: Coronavirus reporting at Caxton Local Media aims to combat fake news

Dear reader,
As your local news provider, we have the duty of keeping you factually informed on Covid-19 developments. As you may have noticed, mis- and disinformation (also known as “fake news”) is circulating online. Caxton Local Media is determined to filter through the masses of information doing the rounds and to separate truth from untruth in order to keep you adequately informed. Local newsrooms follow a strict pre-publication fact-checking protocol. A national task team has been established to assist in bringing you credible news reports on Covid-19.
Readers with any comments or queries may contact National Group Editor Irma Green (irma@caxton.co.za) or Legal Adviser Helene Eloff (helene@caxton.co.za)

Do you want to receive news alerts via Telegram? Send us a message (not an sms) with your name and surname to 060 532 5535.

You can also join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

PLEASE NOTE: If you have signed up for our news alerts you need to save the Berea Mail Telegram number as a contact to your phone, otherwise you will not receive our alerts

Here’s where you can download Telegram on Android or Apple.