Round-up for the week ending 4th March: Stiaan in ominous form ahead of county season

We start this week’s instalment of Winter Watch in Pietzmaritzburg, South Africa where Stiaan van Zyl continued to mine a rich vein of form just weeks ahead of the start of the county season. Stiaan made 63 and 66 not out for Cape Cobras in their eight wicket defeat over Dolphins in the Sunfoil Series four-day competition. The 30-year-old also bowled four very tidy second innings overs, conceding six runs. In just five innings in the tournament, Stiaan has scored 420 runs at an average 105, which bodes very well for his return to Sussex.

Over to the UAE, where games in the Pakistan Super League have been coming thick and fast. With Jofra Archer back in the UK and David Wiese and Chris Jordan not appearing for their franchises, Tymal Mills was the only Sussex man in PSL action last week. In the first of three scheduled matches for Karachi Kings, Tymal Mills took 2-33 from 3.3 overs in their 27-run win over Lahore Qalanders on Monday. After rain meant no play in the Kings’ match with Multan Sultans on Friday, Tymal next took the field on Sunday against Islamabad United. He recorded figures of 0-39 from four overs as the Kings suffered an eight-wicket loss thanks to a destructive 71 off 37 balls from New Zealander, Luke Ronchi.

Stuart Whittingham was involved in two warm-up matches ahead of Scotland’s ICC World Cup Qualifiers campaign last week. In the Scots’ seven-wicket win over Papua New Guinea on Tuesday, Stuart bowled six overs and took 0-32. He took 2-36 from six overs on Thursday in a nail-biting two-wicket defeat to Ireland. Stuart was entrusted with the final over and Ireland were able to sneak home off the final ball of the match.

Stuart wasn’t in the eleven for Scotland’s opening match of the tournament proper, but Rashid Khan was. Captaining Afghanistan, Rashid didn’t have the best of matches, falling for a golden duck and then conceding 68 runs from his nine overs, which brought him one wicket. Ultimately, Scotland pulled off a huge shock by recording a seven-wicket win and getting their campaign off to a flying start.

In our final visit to Australia this winter, Phil Salt finished his stint with Adelaide University with a victory. Having made 63 from 61 balls in their first innings the weekend before, Phil was called upon as a declaration bowler to set up AUCC’s game with Port Adelaide on Sunday. He performed his duties with aplomb, conceding 42 runs from two overs as Port Adelaide declared on 50-1… after three overs. That left AUCC requiring 182 for victory, a target they reached with two wickets remaining. Opening the batting, Phil was unable to replicate his first innings performance, being caught for one.

After falling to a first innings defeat last weekend, Delray Rawlins’ Sydney were batting for pride against Randwick Petersham on day two of their match on Saturday. Delray finished an impressive winter in New South Wales Premier Cricket with an unbeaten 36.