Proteas batsman and former captain Faf du Plessis has signed with the St. Lucia Zouks for the upcoming Caribbean Premier League.

The fact that he’s out of contract with CSA means that he will be able to play franchise T20 cricket more often. It’s been 5 years since the former Proteas all-format skipper featured in the CPL (he last played for the St. Kitts & Nevis Patriots in 2016), but he’s set to make a stronger return than last time around.

Now he still is very much in the Proteas’ plans as far as the T20 World Cup later this year is concerned, even though it’s to be noted that he didn’t feature in the two recent T20I series against Pakistan.

He’s made 320 runs in 7 innings so far in this year’s IPL, and he should be able to carry over this momentum to the CPL. The entirety of the CPL will be held in St. Kitts & Nevis, in order to conform to a strict COVID-19 protocol.

Last year, there were plenty of slow and low surfaces, resulting in multiple low-scoring affairs – so this tournament will be a test of his adaptability as well as the experience he brings to the table. He’ll be sharing a dressing room with some of the highly-rated West Indian T20 stars like Andre Fletcher and Rahkeem Cornwall.

The rest of the CPL draft will be held later today, and it’ll be interesting to see if any other South African players garner interest among the six franchises. We also know that the veteran legspinner Imran Tahir will play for the Guyana Amazon Warriors.

The amount of preparation for the T20WC might be relatively meagre, but opportunities to play franchise cricket around the world can be very handy, especially in a place that has produced a team that has lifted the silverware in the T20WC twice.