Champions League T20 is in full swing and we all are witness of some good action by ball and bat. So far there are some upsets in the tournament and some good performances shown by few known and unknown players.
Some of the low profile key players of the tournament are JP Duminy, AG Puttick, MC Henriques and PJ Hughes. Some of the well known players who had good show till now are Shewag, R. P. Singh, Jayawardene, and Nannes.
Following is the analysis of the star performer so far.
Jean-Paul Duminy:
South Africa
Full name: Jean-Paul Duminy
Current age: 25 years 181 days
Major teams: South Africa, Cape Cobras, Devon, Mumbai Indians, South Africa Under-19s, Western Province, Western Province Boland
Batting style: Left-hand bat
Bowling style: Right-arm offbreak
Profile:
Jean-Paul Duminy was identified very early on as a potential international player, but having made his ODI debut in 2004, it was another three years before he cemented a regular place in the team.
When his Test chance came, through an injury to Ashwell Prince, he launched his career in a manner bettered by few players. On debut he helped guide South Africa to a successful chase of 414 in Perth with an unbeaten 50, and then he followed that with a serene 166 in Melbourne to rescue to his team from the prospect of a huge deficit.
Those two innings confirmed him as an integral part of South Africa’s future, and he built on that with impressive performances in the subsequent limited-overs game. Duminy’s batting is elegant and graceful, with a silky cover-drive and a strong square cut.
He has few problems when the ball is short, either, and like a lot of left-handers like to whip deliveries through midwicket. There is calmness about his play that belies his age, an approach that flows into his personality. After scoring his 166 at the MCG he said: “I guess I have a lot to live up now.”
Better known as JP, he broke into a strong Western Province side during the 2001-02 domestic season. Just 18 at the time, his potential was always evident and came to the fore in the South African Under-19 tour to England in 2003. He made his ODI debut during South Africa’s tour of Sri Lanka in 2004 and played five matches, with little success, often buried at the bottom of the order.
He is a brilliant fielder anywhere with a safe pair of hands and a decent arm. In ODIs he has helped fill the gap left by Jonty Rhodes and when he plays alongside AB de Villiers and Herschelle Gibbs, South Africa’s fielding circle is almost unbreakable.
Andrew Puttick:
South Africa
Full name: Andrew George Puttick
Current age: 28 years 305 days
Major teams: South Africa, Cape Cobras, Western Province, Western Province Boland
Batting style: Left-hand bat
Bowling style: Right-arm medium
Profile:
Andrew Puttick, a left-handed opening batsman from Western Province, made his debut in the 2000-01 season, scoring his maiden first-class century in just his third game, against Easterns atNewlands, while still a teenager. Prior to that, Puttick was part of South Africa’s squad at the 1999 Under-19 World Cup in Sri Lanka, in the same team as players such as Graeme Smith and Jacques Rudolph.
In the early days of his first-class career he averaged nearly fifty and scored an unbeaten 250. That earned him a South Africa A call for the 2003 tour of Sri Lanka, but he struggled to kick on from that level. He earned a full national call-up on another tour of Sri Lanka in 2004 as a replacement for the injured Herschelle Gibbs, but his one international outing to date came as a last-minute replacement in an ODI against New Zealand, at Newlands, in 2005.
However, he lasted five balls and failed to get off the mark. Going back to the domestic circuit Puttick continued to be a consistent performer: he contributed to the Cobras’ MTN Domestic Championship title-winning campaigns in 2006 and 2007. Puttick also scored well with South Africa A, and replaced the injured Smith as the Cobras’ captain in the Champions League Twenty20 in India.
Moises Henriques:
Australia
Full name: Moises Constantino Henriques
Current age: 22 years 253 days
Major teams: Australia, Australia A, Kolkata Knight Riders, New South Wales
Playing role: All-rounder
Batting style: Right-hand bat
Bowling style: Right-arm medium-fast
Profile:
Moises Henriques was so young when he first came into the New South Wales squad that he could train only in school holidays. After starring as captain of Australia’s Under-19 side – he first made the team as a 16-year-old – with 16 World Cup wickets in Sri Lanka at 10.62 and 150 runs at 37.5, Henriques played his second senior game in the final of the 2005-06 ING Cup.
As the Blues were heading towards the tightest of victories over South Australia, Henriques, the No. 9, refused to fluster and was unbeaten on 5 from 21 balls when Stuart MacGill squirted the winning run. The next season he added another six one-day games but the highlight was playing the opening two Pura Cup matches of the Blues’ campaign. In his second outing he displayed his huge potential with 5 for 17 from 13 overs against Queensland.
Strangely, he was dropped and did not earn another first-class appearance that summer, although he struggled with a shoulder injury.
In February 2009 when he was called into the Twenty20 sideto play New Zealand: he was run-out for 1 and didn’t bowl. The elevation came despite an inconsistent summer at state level and by the end of the season he had been dropped from the Sheffield Shield side.
In seven games he had 327 runs, with a high of 55, and eight wickets. His bowling was more effective in the FR Cup – he finished second on the Blues list with 10 – but the struggle for runs continued in the limited-overs competitions.
Born on the Portuguese island of Madeira, Henriques arrived in Australia as a baby and first played cricket with friends aged nine. Occasionally compared to Steve Waugh, he looks overseas for Jacques Kallis as an all-round idol. “Everyone asks me if I prefer batting or bowling,” he says, “I couldn’t choose if I had to pick one.”
Phillip Hughes:
Australia
Full name: Phillip Joel Hughes
Current age: 20 years 316 days
Major teams: Australia, Australia A, Australia Under-19s, Middlesex, New South Wales, New South Wales Under-19s, Western Suburbs
Playing role: Opening batsman
Batting style: Left-hand bat
Profile
At 20, Hughes was Australia’s youngest debutant since Craig McDermott 25 years earlier, and when he recorded twin centuries in Durban – he brought up his maiden hundred with two sixes – he was the youngest to achieve the feat.
The 415 runs in three Tests were followed by centuries in each of his three County Championship games for Middlesex, proving he could adapt to the early-season conditions in a stunning streak which further irritated England supporters who were angry he was given the chance to fine-tune before the Ashes.
Fans in both countries have been surprised by the success of his country-baked technique, which includes compulsive slicing through point and slashing to cover, as well as stepping away to provide room for tennis-style drives down the ground.
After wowing the national selectors in 2007-08, when at 19 he became the youngest to score a century in a Pura Cup final, Hughes piled up 819 more Sheffield Shield runs in his second summer. His timing was impeccable – Australia were looking for someone to take over from Matthew Hayden – and a week before the squad for South Africa was picked, he posted 151 and 82 not out against Tasmania.
In addition to his Test call-up, Hughes was the Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year, the Sheffield Shield Player of the Year and won the Blues’ Steve Waugh Medal. Pretty impressive stuff for a young man who grew up on a banana farm in northern New South Wales
Author: Mona Gupta, New Delhi.
Loading ...