Image Credit- AP
Due to a family situation, Heinrich Klaasen will not be participating in the Caribbean Premier League’s 2024 season, which kicks off on Thursday. One of the greatest power hitters in the world, particularly when facing slow bowling, the South African middle-order hitter is a huge loss for the St Lucia Kings, who signed him in June in advance of the CPL draft.
Tim Seifert, a New Zealand wicketkeeper-batter who previously played for the Trinbago Knight Riders and won the title with them in 2020, has taken Klaasen’s spot in the Kings, who advanced to the Eliminator after finishing third on the points table the previous season.
In 2022, Klaasen played for the Guyana Amazon Warriors, but that was before he really started to shine as a limited-overs cricket player. In five games, he scored 118 runs at a 137 strike rate. He has played 82 Twenty20 matches for both club and nation in the two years that have followed, amassing 2293 runs at a strike rate of 169, including two hundreds and sixteen fifties.
Other teams also saw changes, with Knight Riders adding Andries Gous of the USA as a temporary replacement. The 30-year-old batsman and wicketkeeper made an impression in the T20 World Cup earlier this year, finishing eighth in scoring. Tim David, an Australian, is anticipated to join Knight Riders only after their first four games.
Since David Miller and Keshav Maharaj had to skip the first two games in order to attend the Cricket South Africa awards ceremony on September 5, the Barbados Royals also required short-term backup. They have added Shamarh Brooks and Dunith Wellalage, an all-arounder from Sri Lanka who impressed during the most recent ODI series against India.
Sikandar Raza has also withdrawn from the CPL due to an injury. The Zimbabwean all-rounder announced on X (formerly Twitter) that he would be absent for the duration of the competition. The St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots have not yet announced a substitute.