Klaasen to step out of CPL 2024 due to personal reasons

St Lucia Kings faced a major drawback just before CPL 2024 as one of their important players wicketkeeper-batsman Henrich Klaasen stepped out from the tournament due to some family emergency. As his replacement, the team has approached New Zealand’s  Tim Seifert. The batsman has been appointed in place of Klaasen.

Klaasen was taken by St Lucia Kings in June before the draft. The South African player has previously represented the Guyana Amazon Warriors for five games in 2022 for lukewarm returns but has since emerged as one of the finest batters in the format, boasting a strike rate 150.18. His replacement, Seifert, has a good T20 record and even won the CPL with Trinbago Knight Riders in 2020.

Apart from Henrich Klaasen, another important player missing out from the league is Zimbabwe’s all-rounder Sikandar Raza who posted on X (formerly Twitter) that he would miss the entire season due to an (unspecified) injury. St. Kitts & Nevis Patriots have yet to name a replacement player.

Meanwhile, another pre-draft signing in the league, Tim David, will join the Trinbago Knight Riders only after their first four games of the season. The franchise has therefore roped in USA’s Andries Gous as a temporary replacement for the big-hitting Australian batter.

Barbados Royals too have opted to sign Sri Lankan all-rounder Dunith Wellalage and Shamarh Brooks as temporary replacements for the Proteas pair of Keshav Maharaj and David Miller, who are expected to miss the first two games for the team to attend the Cricket South Africa awards function on September 5.