pic cred: Boland Cricket
Goldrush Boland has signed Gavin Kaplan for three more seasons, according to CEO James Fortuin.
"We have signed Gavin Kaplan for three seasons, and the plan is to build our batting around him," said Fortuin.
The former Rondebosch Boys High and Western Province 28-year-old batter had his best domestic season to date after topping the scoring charts in the CSA 4-Day Series, and he had a fairly decent run in the CSA One Day Cup and CSA T20 Challenge.
His form in the 4-Day Series is the reason Boland acted quickly to keep him for three more seasons as he enters the prime years of his cricket career. Kaplan scored 903 runs in the 4-Day Series, the most runs since CSA restructured domestic cricket in 2022. The last time a South African scored 900 runs in domestic cricket was Keegan Petersen for the Knights in the 2018/19 season, when the batters were playing a maximum of 20 innings. Since CSA restructured domestic cricket, the next best batter to score the most runs was Connor Esterhuizen this season, who put on 791 runs, better than the 727 runs by the 2022/23 leading run-scorer Matthew Breetzke.
Breaking the 900-run mark was incredible by Kaplan, as he went past 100 four times this season and top-scored with 238 runs. The 1584 balls that he faced proved his mental toughness this past season, especially since his home ground was Boland Park, not the other favored cricket grounds in South Africa.
The signing by Boland means they have intentions to retain their status and ensure continuity in their setup, which will bring stability.