Amla confirmed as Protea marquee signing for Durban Heat
The Kingsmead Cricket Stadium-based team for the upcoming Mzansi Super League beginning in November has been officially unveiled as the Durban Heat with Proteas star Hashim Amla announced as their Marquee South African player.
The reveal of the team names as well as the distribution of South African marquee players was done on Monday, along with the announcement that Hollywoodbets Dolphins coach Grant Morgan, as well as his Dolphins back-up staff, will take charge of the Durban Heat.
“We’re excited to have Hashim returning to KZN to represent the Durban Heat,” CEO of KZN Cricket Heinrich Strydom mentioned.
“He brings with him a wealth of experience both at the highest level as well as at Kingsmead so he has a huge amount of knowledge to share.
“He is one of the most loved cricketers in the country and I am sure that having a player like him in our squad will be a hit with the crowds.
Dolphins coach Morgan led his chargers to the final of the RAM SLAM T20 Challenge last season, and along with assistant coach Imraan Khan, team manager Anderson Ndovela, physiotherapist Nick Moffit and trainer Gavin Muir, the Kingsmead coaching set-up remains unchanged with the addition of analyst Adhishwar Pillai.
"It is great that we can keep our back-room team together for this tournament. They have proved that they are a strong unit, understand how to win T20 matches and come in to the tournament with a proven track record.
"We are looking forward to see what sort of squad we put together at the draft later this week," Strydom added.
Along with the return of Amla, the Durban Heat are in the strong position of having first pick of their international marquee player at the draft that will be happening later in the week.
That selection will be for one of the international marquee players which include English stars Jason Roy, Eoin Morgan and Dawid Malan, Windies hero’s Chris Gayle and Dwayne Bravo as well as young Afghanistan star Rashid Khan.
All of Gayle, Bravo and Roy have a connection with Durban with Gayle and Bravo both being involved in Dolphins teams over the years, while Roy was born and schooled in Durban before immigrating to the United Kingdom in 2000.