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Baartman omission ‘strange’ and ‘weird’ says Steyn
The Mercury
|January 07, 2026
FORMER Proteas fast bowler Dale Steyn described is as “weird” and “strange” that fast bowler Ottneil Baartman did not make the ICC T20 World Cup squad, despite being the leading wicket-taker in the SA20.
Baartman was a key player for South Africa in the previous edition of the ICC T20 World Cup, as he bowled a total of 19 overs in the five games he played, meaning it was only in one game that he didn’t go through his allotted four overs in a match.
The right-arm quick returned an economy rate of 4.94 runs per over, an almost unheard of rate in the shortest format of the game.
In the SA20, he is one of two bowlers that have crossed the 50 wickets mark, alongside Marco Jansen who has been included in the Proteas squad headed for the tournament in India next month.
In the recently concluded bilateral series in India, Baartman finished third on the top wicket-takers list, behind only Lungi Ngidi and Varun Chakravarthy, and ahead of Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh.
This story is from the January 07, 2026 edition of The Mercury.
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