Daily Times

The Cape Town Blitz have picked Pakistan left-arm pacer Wahab Riaz in the opening round of Tuesday’s player draft for the second edition of South Africa’s 2019 Mzansi Super League (MSL) T20. Riaz has replaced England batsman Dawid Malan as the team’s international marquee player. Pakistan’s hard-hitting batsman Asif Ali and all-rounder Mohammad Nawaz were also retained by the Cape Town Blitz. This year’s draft saw a huge increase in the overseas player’s list as only 71 cricketers had applied last year, Sports24 reported. Before the draft, each team had already been allocated a big-name as the marquee South African player as well as an international marquee player. In the draft, teams made their picks to fill the remaining places from the foreign and South African players. Each of the six squads will receive a 16th player later this year, based on performances in the tournament formerly known as the Africa T20 Cup. Thirteen players were chosen in the draft by each team and the 14th position will be a wild card and it will be selected at the conclusion of the provincial T20 competition. This will give all the squads a total of 16 players. The MSL is the premier T20 cricket tournament in South Africa. It will comprise of six franchise teams representing different South African cities. The second edition of the MSL will take place in November and December this year.