Jos Buttler expressed his desire to help out the younger players in the Paarl Royals squad.
Entering the second season of South Africa’s premier T20 league, the SA20, the Paarl Royals will set their eyes on preventing a third straight loss against the Pretoria Capitals when the two meet at Boland Park on Friday afternoon.
In their last two meetings last season, the side from Pretoria got the better of David Miller’s side when it mattered.
They first claimed a 59-run in their last round-robin match at SuperSport Park.
A day later, Wayne Parnell’s side recorded a 29-run win in the semi-finals, and in the process brought an end to the Royals campaign just one step away from the championship match.
The side from Boland will however draw inspiration from their encouraging home record last season.
The Royals won three of their five matches at Boland Park against the Joburg Super Kings, Durban Super Giants, and the Capitals respectively.
The recipe to winning the league, as shared by Sunrisers Eastern Cape, skipper Aiden Markram is to start on a high and win home matches. Those sentiments are also shared by Royals and England wicket-keeper batter, Jos Buttler.
“It certainly helps [ to start on a high], everyone wants to get that first win under their belt early on in the season,” he said.
“It sort of sets you up nicely – T20 can be one of those games where you can ride that momentum and it can take you through the tournament.
“We look forward to playing, we want to make our home ground a bit of a fortress and a tough place to come and play for the opposition – hopefully we can get off the mark tomorrow.”
The 33-year-old was instrumental in the Royals’ journey last season with the bat and gloves.
Buttler finished the league as the top scorer with 391 runs at an average of 39.10. He also scored 36 fours, 13 sixes and four half-centuries. However, the Englishman wants to go all the way in 2024.
“I enjoyed the competition last year; it was a great tournament, and it was really good to see the people on the ground enjoying some top cricket.
“Hopefully the team can play well and push to go all the way.”
Buttler and co will be joined by a handful of young players in the side this year, two of them born just under 24 years old – John Turner (23), and Nqaba Peter (21).
Buttler says he embraces the responsibility of taking a leadership role for the young players.
“As you get to this stage of my career as a senior player it becomes natural that you want to help out the younger boys, share some experiences, be a sounding board, be open to questions,” he added.
“I think that’s one of the enjoyable bits of franchise cricket you get to rub shoulders with a lot of different players. I can learn a lot from everyone and hopefully, I can help a few guys out with their development and cricket journey, so everyone is a winner.”
The Royals’ first match of the new SA20 season against the Pretoria Capitals kicks off at 17:30.
