Shots and Edges - PR and DSG
Did Paarl Royals and DSG do good business with their pre-signings?
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Shots and Edges is a new concept where we will have an overview look at the players SA20 teams pre-sign or retain. The idea is to point out if the side did good business or not.
Durban Super Giants - Brandon King
Brandon King was one of the worst openers at the T20 World Cup. He came in at 18th on the top-scoring openers’ list - 17 other openers scored more runs than him. Scotland’s Michael Alexander Jones and Canada’s Aaron Johnson played fewer matches than him and still managed to outscore him. Not only that, they hit more sixes than him.
His campaign was so bad that he was the 50th-highest run-scorer in the tournament. He hit 15 boundaries, 13 fours and two sixes, off 68 deliveries. Those figures do not look nice on an opener, regardless of how tough the pitches are. King finished the T20 World Cup with 86 runs in five outings for the West Indies, averaging 21.50 at a strike rate of 126.47. He had a high score of 34. Interestingly, he has no ducks.
However, if you look beyond those T20 World Cup stats, Brandon King has good numbers. The West Indies opener averages 27.51 at a strike rate of 133.31 in T20 cricket. His numbers do not scream elite, however, if you look beneath the surface, they are definitely above par. His true average is 3.24 points above par, while his strike rate is 14.34*. His boundary percentage of 69.75 is not elite, but still decent.
King’s arrival at DSG means that they now have a few openers. They already have Matthew Breetzke, Quinton de Kock, and Tony de Zorzi. Fortunately, Breetzke and de Kock are versatile and can come in at three if needed. On the other hand, King is an upgrade on Kyle Mayers with the bat. We don’t know if Mayers will be retained, if he is, that will mean five options for the opening slots.
Mayers' advantage is his bowling. However, DSG is the most all-roundery side in the league. Last season they had Wiaan Mulder and Marcus Stoinis as the other seam-bowling allrounders they have in the top six, with two more, Dwaine Pretorius and Keemo Paul at seven and eight.
Signing King is good business, all things considered. Shot.
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Paarl Royals - Joe Root
T20 cricket is not the first thing one thinks of when Joe Root is mentioned. The Englishman is on track for Test cricket greatness and is an outstanding ODI player. His average of 32 at a strike rate of 127.59 in T20s does not signal an A-tier overseas player. He hits a boundary every 6.42 balls and a six every 48.87 balls. He is more comfortable hitting fours, he crunches a four every 7.39 balls.
Root has a true average of 7.26 and a true strike rate of -1.16*. This makes him useful in arresting a collapse and holding the innings together. He is a decent middle-overs batter - Root averages 31.8 at a strike of 130.3 in T20s and goes at 32.9 at a rate of 123.3 in T20Is. We won't look at his death-overs figures. There is no point. Root has no fifth gear, so when he gets to the 15th over, you are praying for his dismissal.
Root is not quite the overseas player the Royals need right now. There is a question mark around Jos Buttler's availability for SA20. England has a white ball series against India, five T20s and three ODIs from 22 January to 12 February. He cannot fill the Buttler void and might be deployed as an anchor in the middle order to allow players like Mitchell van Buuren and Wihan Lubbe the license to express themselves.
More than anything, Root's signing feels like the Royals universe assigning one of its squad players to SA20 for a spell for them to have a good look at him.
This is an edge, it might race to the boundary through luck.
*True stats (true average and true strike rate) used in this article are provided by the good people at Good Areas, who have an outstanding algorithm that compares expected stats to achieved stats based on conditions.