A stepping stone tournament, career-reviving for some and a fast-paced game is what Paarl Royals head coach JP Duminy described the inaugural SA20 to be.

Born and bred in Strandfontein, Cape Flats, the former Proteas batter believes his side had rich talent mixed with both experienced and inexperienced players.

The Boland side had a good run in the tournament. It almost made it to the final, until Duminy’s chargers were knocked out in the semi-finals by Pretoria Capitals who later succumbed to the Eastern Cape side, Sunrisers Eastern Cape.

The 38-year-old featured a few English players in his side with one of them being England batter Jason Roy.

When he picked him for his side during the auction last year, Duminy knew how much work Roy needed to help him with his form.

In September, Roy was left out of England’s squad for the T20 World Cup and their T20 tour of Pakistan due to a poor run of form.

But Duminy believes Roy is still one of the world’s best players who only needed a chance to prove himself again.

“I think you hit the nail on the head, you are right there, he is a quality player, it’s certainly been a tough road for him last year in his career,” said Duminy.

“He was left out in the England team, so this was an opportunity for him to find his confidence, and I think SA20 was the great platform for that.”

Roy bounced back in style in Bloemfontein last month knocking a massive 113 off 91 balls in the ODI series against South Africa.

“As you could see by the way we set up our team, we’re allowed him a bit of freedom to give him a run and to continue to do so,” he said.

Having a buffer of experienced players like [Jos] Buttler up top – and just backing him – gave him the affirmation that we still believe in him and that we know that he is still one of the world’s best when he’s on the song.

“It’s not easy, we’ve all been there before in our careers and the only way to shut the criticism down is to stay disciplined and focus on your game. It does come back – it’s not easy but you gotta stay focused and disciplined.”