- Each team has at least one overseas player
- Mainly Australian or South African, but no Indians
- Afghanistan, The Netherlands and Zimbabwe also feature
The Vitality Blast is back, and as always the attraction to overseas players is as big as it has always been. There are 38 overseas players playing at some point this season.
The majority are Australian (17), and then South African (10). There are also players from lesser nations as well, with one each from the Netherlands and Zimbabwe, and two from Afghanistan.
There is a new format in this season’s version of the T20 Blast, with a new-look group stage format. The teams are now split into three groups of six – North, South, Central and West, with each team playing six games. Finals Day will be held at Edgbaston on Saturday 18th July.
Readcricket’s top three overseas players
No.3 Usman Tariq – Warwickshire Bears
Known for his strange action, Usman Tariq is a right arm off break spin bowler. He was late to the franchise cricket scene, but performances in the Pakistan Super League and the Caribbean Premier League have brought into the spotlight.
Tariq signed for the Bears at the beginning of May, for both the Vitality Blast, and the Hundred, with Birmingham Phoenix. In his domestic T20 career, he has taken 92 wickets at 17.84, with an economy rate of 6.99. So far in this Blast season, he has taken three wickets for 57 runs.
No.2 Chris Green – Lancashire Lightning
Second on the list is the Australian Chris Green. Green has played T20 cricket all around the world, who has made his name bowling in the powerplay overs. He made his debut over 10 years ago for the Sydney Sixers in the BBL in 2015.
Since then, he has played 291 matches, and taken 261 wickets at an average of 26.49, and an economy rate of 7.19 Green has also scored 2199 runs at 17.45, and a strike rate of 138.82.
His record in the Vitality Blast is pretty good. Green has played for three different teams (Birmingham Bears, Middlesex, and Lancashire), scoring a total of 707 runs at 26.18 and 147.59 strike rate. He also has 66 wickets at 23.27 with an economy rate of 7-91.
No.1 Tristan Stubbs – Hampshire Hawks
Where do we start with Tristan Stubbs. The South African only made his debut in T20 cricket in 2021, playing for the Warriors against the Dolphins in the CSA T20 Challenge, scoring 102 runs in four matches. He is known for his hard hitting and fearless approach to batting.
In his T20 career, he has played 181 games for various sides around the world, including MI New York (MLC), Mumbai Indians and Sunrisers Eastern Cape in the SA20. Stubbs has scored 3740 runs at an average of 34.31 and a huge strike rate of 141.98. In his first match in the Vitality Blast, he scored 69* off 42 balls against Essex.
List of overseas players
North
Derbyshire Falcons: Caleb Jewell (Australia), Akif Javed (Pakistan), Mohammad Ghazanfar (Afghanistan, second half)
Durham: David Bedingham (South Africa)
Lancashire Lightning: Chris Green (Australia), Ben McDermott (Australia)
Leicestershire Foxes: Ashton Turner (Australia), Ajaz Patel (New Zealand), Nick Kelly (New Zealand)
Notts Outlaws: George Linde (South Africa)
Yorkshire: Hasan Ali (Pakistan), Faheem Ashraf (Pakistan), Logan van Beek (Netherlands, first half)
South
Essex: Simon Harmer (South Africa), Wiaan Mulder (South Africa, first six games)
Hampshire Hawks: Delano Potgieter (South Africa, until Tristan Stubbs arrives), Tristan Stubbs (South Africa, after IPL), Hilton Cartwright (Australia, all)
Kent Spitfires: Tom Rogers (Australia), Keith Dudgeon (South Africa), Dian Forrester (South Africa – when commitments with A tour permit)
Middlesex: Eathan Bosch (South Africa)
Surrey: Sean Abbott (Australia)
Sussex Sharks: Daniel Hughes (Australia)
Central and West
Glamorgan: Nathan McAndrew (Australia), Fazalhaq Farooqi (Afghanistan), Colin Ingram (South Africa)
Gloucestershire: D’Arcy Short (Australia), Liam Scott (Australia, five group matches), Cameron Bancroft (Australia)
Northamptonshire Steelbacks: Chris Lynn (Australia), Nathan McSweeney (Australia)
Somerset: Riley Meredith (Australia, seventh group game onwards), Daniel Sams (Australia)
Warwickshire Bears: Usman Tariq (Pakistan), Beau Webster (Australia)
Worcestershire Rapids: Sikandar Raza (Zimbabwe), Usama Mir (Pakistan)
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