South Africa announced their T20 World Cup 2026 squad on January 2 and Ottneil Baartman was nowhere on the list. The selectors preferred six other pace options, including teenage sensation Kwena Maphaka, and the Paarl Royals quick was left to watch from the outside.
Since that day, Baartman has responded in the only language cricketers truly control and that is with performance. On Wednesday night in Centurion, he produced the loudest statement yet, claiming a sensational hat-trick and a five-wicket haul to power Paarl Royals into the SA20 playoffs.
Sensational Ottneil Baartman in SA20
Baartman ripped through Pretoria Capitals with figures of 5 for 16, becoming only the second bowler in SA20 history to take a hat-trick after Lungi Ngidi, the very man he dismissed to complete the feat. The Capitals were bundled out for 127, and Paarl chased the target with 29 balls to spare. It was another brutal reminder of the form the 31-year-old is carrying. Since the World Cup snub, he has taken 11 wickets, and his season tally now stands at 16 at an absurd strike rate of 7, meaning a wicket every seven balls.
The evening began with Baartman striking with his first two deliveries, removing Connor Esterhuizen and Jordan Cox to leave Capitals wobbling. Andre Russell threatened a late rescue, but Baartman returned in the 19th over to end the party. Russell was caught in the deep, Lizaad Williams chopped on, and Ngidi became the final piece of the hat-trick puzzle when Baartman completed a caught-and-bowled.
Baartman is now the leading wicket-taker in SA20 history with 57 scalps from just 30 matches at 14.10. He has three four-fors, one five-for, and a reputation as the most reliable death bowler in the competition. Yet, when the national squad was announced, his name was missing, a decision that could backfire on the Proteas. Barring Lungi Ngidi, they don’t have a specialist pacer to control death overs.
South Africa squad for T20 World Cup 2026
Aiden Markram (c), Corbin Bosch, Dewald Brevis, Quinton de Kock (wk), Tony de Zorzi, Donovan Ferreira, Marco Jansen, George Linde, Keshav Maharaj, Kwena Maphaka, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, Jason Smith
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