Heinrich Klaasen

A destructive middle-order batter and an exceptional fielder who’s also capable of keeping wickets, Heinrich Klaasen is almost the perfect modern-day white-ball package. Whilst pursuing his bachelors' degree at the University of Pretoria, Heinrich Klaasen gained an interest in cricket after he made it to his college team. Rising through the ranks, he was handed a first-class debut for the Northerns in the 2012/13 season. Having taken the longer route to the top through domestic cricket rather than age-level cricket, Klaasen piled on the numbers and had an exponentially rising graph in his first three seasons, starting off with an average of 42 in his debut season which inflated to an exemplary 65 in his third.

The sheer weight of runs and his consistency gave him a license to play first-class cricket, and he immediately made an impression, falling just short of a double-hundred in February 2017 to help the Titans beat the Dolphins in the penultimate round of the first-class competition. Consistent performances throughout the season earned him a ticket to New Zealand as a reserve wicketkeeper. Unfortunately, however, he did not make the playing XI and missed out on the coveted Test cap.

South Africa's National Academy coach Shukri Conrad hailed him (a little controversially) as the 'poor man's Dhoni'. “Heinrich stays very calm in the situation. He stays in the moment. There’s very much a ‘poor man’s MS Dhoni’ about him. There are really no sideshows to his game and he doesn’t wait for the game to come to him. That is what I like most about him. He is as tough as they come.”