David Miller named Paarl Royals captain for inaugural SA20 season

Miller was snapped up by the franchise in August, along with Jos Buttler, Obed McCoy and Corbin Bosch

David Miller has been named Paarl Royals captain for the inaugural season of SA20, South Africa’s T20 league, which is scheduled for January 2023.

Miller was snapped up by the franchise in August, along with Jos Buttler, Obed McCoy and Corbin Bosch. All four players have worked with the owners before, having represented Rajasthan Royals in the IPL. Miller is also part of the Barbados Royals – which was taken over by the franchise in 2021 – in the CPL and was named captain ahead of the 2022 season.

“It makes me immensely proud to have been appointed as the captain of the Paarl Royals,” Miller said. “To be able to call it my home, gives me great joy. The people of Paarl and the Western Cape as a whole are great supporters of quality and entertaining cricket, and my ambition will be to lead the team in the right manner and give our fans countless memories to cheer their team on.

“We already have some top cricketers on board with the likes of Jos, Obed and Corbin, and I am looking forward to working with an exciting set of players to start this SA20 journey.”

In the ongoing CPL, Miller’s Royals are presently leading the points table with six wins in seven matches. Miller has scored 166 runs in six innings at a strike-rate of 155.14. He was also part of the IPL title-winning Gujarat Titans side this season, amassing 449 runs at a strike rate of 141.19. He was eighth on the list of leading run-getters this season – and second behind captain Hardik Pandya for the Titans. He also captained South Africa to a 2-0 win against England in July.

Head coach JP Duminy, who is also Miller’s former South Africa team-mate, said: “David is one of the most passionate players you will meet, and his reading of the situations is something that will be very valuable to us. Over the last year or so, he has developed a killer instinct wherein he is finishing matches for his team – we’ve seen that in the IPL and for South Africa as well. Hence, we are delighted to have such an experienced player as our leader, and more importantly, someone who has a calm head on his shoulders. We will be closely working with him as well as other players of the leadership group including Jos (Buttler), who himself has a wealth of experience.”

The SA20 auction is set to take place on September 19 in Cape Town. The franchises have an overall purse of USD 2 million and can buy as many players as they like, up to the maximum limit of 17. The money available to them at the auction will be based on what is left of the purse after the pre-auction signings.