19|03|04

In what was a dull final at Hollywoodbets Kingsmead, WSB Western Province won the Hollywoodbets Pro20 for a third time in a row. The only other dominant side in the format in South African cricket has been the Sunrisers Eastern Cape in the Betway SA20.

The Gqeberha-based franchise has won the tournament three times in four years and has featured in the final in all four of those years. The Western Province women's side has been as dominant in that format. Unfortunately, the final was a boring spectacle that was televised but did not do justice to advertising women's domestic cricket quality, all because the Kingsmead-curated pitch was terrible for a T20 cricket final.

Overall, the tournament was good and proved again how dominant Faye Tunnicliffe has been in domestic T20 cricket. Her teammate Nosipho Vezi proved again that she is a bankable, experienced bowler in domestic cricket. Anneke Bosch got herself back into the Proteas squad due to her domestic returns.

With the ICC T20 World Cup just a few months away, it would be interesting to see how this team of the tournament, picked by the Four 6 Out team, would do in a three-match T20 series against the Proteas.

Here is the Pro 20 XI Team of the tournament, according to the Four6Out team:

1. Faye Tunnicliffe (Western Province): Tunnicliffe broke records this season as she scored 422 runs at the top for the three-time Pro20 champions. She was the only player to score a century this season in the tournament, and her strike rate was 147 in eight innings.

 

2. Alex Candler (Dolphins): The Dolphins all-rounder is the second opener after being the third-leading run scorer with 353 runs at a strike rate of 112. Candler went past 50 four times and top-scored with 89 runs this season. With the ball, she picked up six wickets with a bowling economy of 6.56 in 16 overs.

 

3. Dane van Niekerk (Western Province): The former Proteas captain had another good domestic season as she turned out five times for Province, scoring 117 at a strike rate of 142. Her highest score was 51 while averaging 39.

 

4. Mignon du Preez (Dragons): At the age of 36, du Preez is still among the best in domestic cricket, and she scored 394 runs at a strike rate of 124 for the Dragons. Her highest score was 89 from 55 balls against the Garden Route Badgers.

 

5. Anneke Bosch (Titans): After being dropped from the Proteas following the World Cup, Bosch captained the Titans, leading from the front by scoring 161 runs at a strike rate of 156 from 8 innings. Bosch might not be one of the leading run-scorers in the tournament, but her very healthy strike rate gets her in the team.

 

6. Delmi Tucker (Western Province): Tucker, like Bosch, is in the unfortunate position of struggling to get into the national side after being dropped due to injury. Since recovering, she has struggled to get the attention of the Selectors, but she did well in the season, scoring 221 runs at a strike rate of 132. She might not have scored a half-century, but that strike rate was healthy, and with the ball, she took 8 wickets with a bowling economy of 5.31.

    

7. Zintle Kula (Badgers): Kula, who could have been the captain of this side, took 14 wickets and had a bowling economy of 5.71. She was the only bowler to take a five-wicket haul this season and the only bowler to get 4 maiden overs. The Garden Route Badgers captain from Gqeberha was at her peak with the ball, and with the bat, she had a high score of 34.

 

8. Raisibe Ntozakhe (Lions): The Lions captain will also captain this side since van Niekerk and du Preez were not captaining their respective sides. Ntozakhe took 14 wickets and had an economy of 5.01 in the 30.2 overs that she bowled. Her best match returns were 4/9 against WP in the final.

 

9. Nthabiseng Nini (Dragons): Nini started the season as the Dragons captain, but she relinquished the responsibilities, probably to give herself more time to focus on her bowling. She finished as a joint-highest wicket-taker, claiming 15 wickets, and her best figures were 4 for 21.

 

10. Refilwe Mkhize (Lions): In a team already loaded with good pace bowlers, the Lions' left-arm pacer leapfrogs Caitlin Wyngaard just because she played more matches. Mkhize took 10 wickets in 8 innings, and her bowling economy was 4.27.

 

11. Nosipho Vezi (Western Province): "Miss Dependable," Vezi finished as a joint-highest wicket-taker with 14 wickets from 10 matches. Ironically, in the final, she only bowled 2 overs even though she was very economical at 4.5. Her best figures in the tournament were 2 for 12, proving that she was actually contributing a wicket almost every match.