In a recent development, SA20 outfit Pretoria Capitals took to X (formerly Twitter) and confirmed that their South African right-arm fast bowler, Anrich Nortje is all set to remain on the sidelines and will miss the entire 2nd edition of the South Africa T20 League after failing to recover in time from a back injury he sustained last year before the Cricket World Cup.
Anrich Nortje was absent from the South African side that reached all the way to the CWC semi-finals where they lost to eventual champions Australia by 3 wickets at Eden Gardens. Although his absence did not cost South Africa that much as bowlers like Kagiso Rabada, Gerald Coetzee, and Marco Jansen took the onus on their shoulders.
UPDATE ?
Capitals seamer Anrich Nortje will miss out on Season 2 of the #SA20, as he continues his recovery from an injury. The Pretoria family wishes him a speedy recovery!#RoarSaamMore pic.twitter.com/pzUfipH5Fh
— Pretoria Capitals (@PretoriaCapsSA) January 9, 2024
The Proteas looked very lethal without Nortje but they could have become even more dangerous with him. His experience on Indian soil was perhaps the same as Rabada, having been a part of IPL for a very long time now. Anrich Nortje had to miss the first half of IPL last season due to an injury and if he fails to complete his recovery then he will be a major doubt to feature in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 as well.
A Major Blow For Pretoria Capitals As Anrich Nortje Was The Joint Highest Wicket Taker Last Season
Anrich Nortje’s failure to recover from the stress fracture on his back is definitely going to hurt Pretoria Capitals as the tall South African was a key player on the team. His contribution was immense in the Capitals’ bid to the finals of the inaugural SA20 last year before they lost to Sunrisers Eastern Cape by 4 wickets in the final.
Nortje was the tournament’s joint-highest wicket-taker with 20 wickets in 11 innings. He was behind by Roelof Van Der Merwe only for a poor bowling average of 13.25 as compared to Van Der Merwe’s 9.55.
In terms of the most impactful bowlers of SA20 season 1, Anrich Nortje was 4th in the list with an Impact wickets average of 17.9. He helped the Pretoria Capitals finish at the summit of the points table with 32 points, including 7 wins and 3 losses.
His last International appearance for South Africa came on September 9, 2023, in the 2nd of a 5-match home ODI series against Australia. Anrich Nortje has 144 international wickets across all formats since making his debut in March 2019 in an ODI against Sri Lanka.
Pretoria Capitals full squad after Anrich Nortje omission: Will Jacks, Shane Dadswell, Theunis de Bruyn, James Neesham, Senuran Muthusamy, Colin Ingram, Corbin Bosch, Adil Rashid, Eathan Bosch, Wayne Parnell (C), Migael Pretorius, Phil Salt, Rilee Rossouw, Paul Stirling, Kyle Verreynne, Matthew Boast, Daryn Dupavillon, and Steve Stolk.
The SA20 starts tomorrow onwards with Aiden Markram’s reigning champions Sunrisers Eastern Cape taking on Faf Du Plessis’ Joburg Super Kings for the opening fixture at Gqeberha.