David Miller, who will be leading the Paarl Royals in the inaugural edition of the upcoming SA20 league, pointed out tearaway pacer Anrich Nortje as a massive challenge who will bring in attack and is keen to take him down in the tournament. Paarl Royals kick start the inaugural season of the SA20 in Cape Town, when they will lock horns with MI Cape Town on January 10.
Nortje stood out at the Men's T20 World Cup in Australia, taking 11 wickets in five games with an economy rate of 5.37, including two four-wicket hauls, despite the fact that South Africa didn't advance to the quarterfinals. Pretoria Capitals has signed Nortje to play in the SA20.
Speaking in an interview with SA20, captain of the Paarl Royals - David Miller spoke on how excited he is to work with a new squad with a healthy combination of experienced senior players and young talent, he said "Yeah, I'm very excited. We've got a great squad and looking forward to linking up with all the guys in early Jan. We've got some good experienced players, World Cup winner Captain Jos Buttler as well, so that's going to be really cool and then Eoin Morgan as well with all the experience in the World Cup in his bank, so yeah good great experienced senior players and a lot of young players are looking forward to it."
Miller further spoke on who he is looking forward to facing the most and how he is going to handle the opposition's bowlers, he said "I don't really have anything against anyone, probably going to be Anrich Nortje, fastest bowler on the circuit at the moment. So, I know he's going to come in hot and he's going to bring his aggression, but I'm looking forward to taking him down."
Miller is also keen to play against MI Cape Town's left-arm pace all-rounder Sam Curran from England, who will be competing in the competition. The T20 World Cup final between England and Pakistan ended with a seven-wicket victory for England, and Curran was named Player of the Match and Tournament.
Miller further said "There are so many good bowlers but I would probably say Sam Curran has definitely had a little bit of an upper hand on me over the last couple of years. He's just got Man of the Series and Man of the Match in the World Cup and he's in top form. So, I'm looking forward to facing him but getting on top of him as well."
Paarl Royals has a star-studded line-up, with some of the most prolific cricketers in world cricket such as Jos Butler, Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi, Jason Roy and Eoin Morgan being a part of the squad. During the auctions, Paarl Royals pre-bought David Miller, Jos Buttler, Obed Mcoy and Corbin Bosch and Tabraiz Shamsi, the most expensive player in the squad.