England fast bowler Craig Overton will look to repay the faith shown in him by the Sunrisers Eastern Cape cricket hierarchy when he makes his debut in the Betway SA20 which begins on Thursday.
The two-time Betway SA20 champions start their campaign against MI Cape Town at St George’s Park at 5.30pm and should he get the nod, Overton will be aiming to put his skills with the bat and ball to good use.
The lanky all-rounder was originally part of the SEC’s plans in the last edition when he was drafted as a wild card pick.
However, he sustained an injury only days before the first match, forcing him to miss the month-long tournament.
Now an excited Overton is keen to get his hands dirty for the Orange Army as they pursue a hat-trick of SA20 titles.
“It was obviously quite disappointing to pick up an injury this time last year.
“However, my body is feeling good at the moment; I am really excited to be back,” Overton said.
“I am joining a really good team with a lot of talented players and hopefully I can put in some good performances if I get a game.”
Similar to fellow England and SEC teammate Zak Crawley, Overton has represented his country at Test and ODI level, but has yet to be capped in T20 internationals.
Despite this, Overton is no stranger to the game’s shorter format, having played 111 matches and taking 112 wickets since his T20 debut in 2014, and though it may not be his primary role, he is no slouch with the bat either, scoring a shade under 500 runs.
He said after the injury, he was not expecting to return to the Sunrisers but after chatting to head coach Adrian Birrell in the summer, he was told that they would be re-signing him for the third season.
“I worked with him [Birrell] for a bit at England under-19 level, and having played against Hampshire for the last decade, I have become pretty familiar with the way he coaches his teams,” Overton said.
“Speaking to the other boys about how he goes about things, he seems like someone I would get along with and it will be great to see how he goes about things.”
Overton believes that despite not having the biggest names in their ranks, their ability to do the basics well is what carried the Sunrisers to the last two trophies and he hopes this year will be no different.
“He [Adi] always talks about doing the simple things really well,” he said.
“There are not many big names in this side but they all do the simple things really well, and if you can do that consistently, more often than not you will win games.”
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