Paarl Rocks ready to light up the inaugural Boland T10 tournament

The Paarl Rocks

THE Paarl Rocks are ready and excited to launch their campaign in the inaugural Boland T10 tournament. They get to face the Stellenbosch Kings in a Cape Winelands derby on Monday night.

It’s evident that the Rocks could be one of the early favourites after assembling a very strong squad for the tournament. They will be led by Clyde Fortuin, who is also the Goldrush Boland captain. Fortuin, who played two test matches for the Proteas in New Zealand last season, will however miss the first week of the tournament as he still has club obligations in the UK to honour.

Manfred de Kock, the Rocks’ coach, says his side will be skippered by veteran left arm spinner, Waylin September, until Fortuin is back in the country.

Keith Dudgeon, who is one of the Goldrush Boland new recruits, will spearhead the bowling department and will be able to lean on the support of fellow Boland seamer, Jevano Baron as well as another pro, the rookie allrounder, Nathan Jacobs.

Lefty, Taywin Adams, is another promising youngster who will be looking to follow up on his form of the 2023/2024 season after impressing with his wicket taking ability.

‘’The boys are excited to get onto the park and there’s a strong gees in the squad,’’ said De Kock. ‘’We’ve managed to get three training sessions in thus far and the boys are looking good. All we want to do now is get to Monday so we can get our campaign underway.’’

When asked who the players are to look out for in the tournament, De Kock, himself a former Boland keeper, answered enthusiastically. He said: ‘’I think everyone knows someone like Clyde will be a big player for us. I think guys like Darrel Hendricks and JJ van der Sandt showed in the Goldrush Boland Super League what they can do, and they can leave their mark in the new and exciting Boland T10. They ended with the second and third most runs in the Goldrush respectively. Another youngster to keep an eye on is Nathan Jacobs,’’ he concluded.

The Rocks play the Kings at 20h00 on Monday at Boland Park. The tournament gets underway on Sunday with a clash between the Northern Raiders and the Overberg Indwe at 20h00.

PAARL ROCKS: Clyde Fortuin, Keith Dudgeon, Nathan Jacobs, Jevano Baron, JJ van der Sandt, Darrel Hendricks, Deano Esau, Waylin September, Taigh Schoor, Taywin Adams, Elliot Moses, Garen Petersen, Quan Daniels, Akeem Minnaar, Liam Muller, Bradwin Hollenbach and Cody Adonis

Coach: Manfred de Kock

Assistant coach: Brenton van Schoor