'One of the best in T20 cricket': Butcher on Klaasen
Former England cricketer Mark Butcher has praised South African cricketer Heinrich Klaasen, calling him one of the best T20 batters in world cricket right now. In an exclusive video on the SA20 official website, Butcher said that there is nobody better in T20 cricket than Durban’s Super Giants master blaster Klaasen. Butcher is in South Africa where he is performing commentary in the SA20 season two.
He was also recently at the ICC Cricket World Cup in India where he watched first-hand Klaasen destroy England in the searing Mumbai heat with a stroke-filled 109 in just 67 balls. While that performance may have occurred in the 50-overs version of the game, Klaasen has consistently been among the star performers in T20 competitions around the world for the past 18 months.
He is also currently the leading run-scorer in the history of SA20 with 557 runs in 15 innings at an average of 55.70, with a century and five fifties. According to a release, Butcher said, “It is difficult to look past Heinrich Klaasen (as the potential top-run getter in Season 2). He is just on such a great run of form at the moment. He must be one of the best, if not the best T20 batter in world cricket.” Klaasen has been on a monumental T20 run since last year. In the inaugural Major League Cricket (MLC) in the USA last year, he scored 235 runs at an average of 58.75 and a strike rate of over 197, with one century and one fifty.
His best score was 110*. He ended as the third-highest run-scorer in the tournament. In the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023, he did a one-man carry job for an inconsistent Sunrisers Hyderabad line-up, scoring 448 runs in 12 matches at an average of 49.77 and a strike rate of 177.07, with one century and two fifties.
He was his side’s leading run-scorer. In the Men’s Hundred 2023, Klaasen scored 189 runs in seven matches at an average of 31.50, with a fifty and a strike rate of 178.30. His best score was 60, and he was the fourth-highest run-scorer1
