Baartman returned career best SA20 figures of five for 16 to help the Paarl Royals secure their place in the playoffs of the tournament, trouncing the Pretoria Capitals by six wickets on Thursday. Ottneil Baartman has taken 16 wickets in only five SA20 matches this season. He’s the all-time leading wicket-taker after four seasons of the competition, with 57 wickets in only 30 matches and a lowly average of only 14.11.
Yesterday the Paarl Royals pacer enhanced his reputation even further by claiming a five-wicket haul, while conceding only 16 runs against Pretoria Capitals. The performance helped secure a six-wicket win and the Capitals’ passage into the knockout phase of the tournament as the log leaders. It seems almost criminal then that Baartman will not be part of the Proteas cohort to board the plane for India and Sri Lanka when the T20 World Cup commences at the start of next month.
“I wasn’t too disappointed,” he said after his player-of-the-match performance on Thursday evening. “I didn’t think in the first place that I was going to be picked.” The seamer was not a regular member of the Proteas squad last season, although he did tour to India and Pakistan at the backend of 2025. But according to Baartman, he’s had no communication from either convenor of selectors Patrick Moroney or head coach Shukri Conrad since, which tempered his expectations on a T20 World Cup berth.“The selector called me when I was selected for India,” he explained “[but] nobody actually spoke to me before that or after that… I don’t know why I was not selected.” The last three wickets of Baartman’s five-wicket haul came in three consecutive deliveries to deliver the second hat-trick of the tournament.
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Setting the score, the Pretoria Capitals were on 126 runs with six wickets down with two overs left in their innings to set a respectable score. But Baartman ensured they’d only add one more run to their tally after the next three balls, dismissing big-hitting West Indian Andre Russell, caught by Sikandar Raza. Lizaad Williams followed, clean bowled and Lungi Ngidi was out caught and bowled.
Earlier in the tournament Ngidi became the first player to take a hat-trick in SA20 history after claiming the feat against Durban’s Super Giants. In a twist of fate, last night Ngidi was Baartman’s third victim in taking the tournament’s second ever hat-trick.
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