Photo Credit: SA20 League
There are a select few batters in the world that make batting resemble a fine piece of art. The ability to caress and stroke the ball in a way that is oh-so-pleasing to the eye.
Reeza Hendricks belongs to this elite group. The Joburg Super Kings opener does not bash, bludgeon and smash. Not even in T20 cricket where power and brute force is the valued currency.
He remains the epitome of class, style and elegance. That back foot drive, often pirouetted on his right toe, where anticipation and timing and footwork and bat speed all instinctively merge takes the breath away every time.
It has been on high-definition full-colour display over the past 12 months with Hendricks striking a rich vein of form in T20 Internationals. Six half-centuries in his past eight T20I innings, including four in succession, has seen Hendricks skyrocket up the ICC T20I batters’ rankings to sit in 11th place just below England captain and Paarl Royals superstar Jos Buttler.
Such consistency deserves to be rewarded and Hendricks was recently crowned South Africa’s Men’s T20 Player of the Year at the Cricket SA Awards held in Midrand.
And after a middling Betway Season 1 for JSK where Hendricks finished as the team’s third-highest scorer with 239 runs, the Wanderers-based outfit will be looking forward to him continuing this rich vein of form in Season 2.
“The past season went well, quite happy with the way things have gone, because things have clicked,” Hendricks said.
“Season 1 was really, really good. Very happy with the way it turned out. I’m looking forward to Season 2, and hopefully JSK can come out on top.”
“Every opportunity you get, you want to put your best foot forward, and put in match-winning performances.”
Hendricks will certainly want to heed his JSK captain and opening partner Faf du Plessis’s advice.
“T20 is the hardest format to deal with form. So when you’re scoring some runs and it seems like you’re in a bit of form, you need to capitalise,” Du Plessis.
The 33-year-old is not taking anything for granted and is currently in Canada playing for the Vancouver Knights in the GLT20 as he fine-tunes his game to be ready for Betway SA20 Season 2 next January.
Teams have until 1 August to finalise their pre-auction squads. This will then determine their remaining purse ahead of the Season 2 auction scheduled for late September. From now to 1 August, teams can trade South African players (all of whom were on multi-year contracts), retain international players who were on option contracts, and buy-out SA or international players still under contract.
