All-rounder Johan Botha comes out of retirement to represent Hobart Hurricanes in BBL 10

Former South African skipper Johan Botha has decided to come out of retirement to participate in the upcoming edition of the Big Bash League (BBL). The veteran all-rounder has been roped in as a replacement player by the Hobart franchise.

'I feel I can still make a contribution to the team': Johan Botha

“Obviously, the Hurricanes is the last team I finished with, and it wasn’t quite the end I wanted. There were four games to go in the season back then, and the guys were playing really good cricket. I didn’t think I’d get another opportunity to play, and then chatting to Ben Rohrer and Griff and they said there might be an opportunity coming up for me. It was a choice between ‘Do I further my coaching career or do I miss the first couple of games of the Pakistan Super League,” said Botha in an official Hobart Hurricanes release.

“I figured I’m as fit as I’ve ever been, and I feel I can still make a contribution to the team. I’ve missed playing but I didn’t really want to put it out there and say ‘can you pick me’ in case it didn’t work out, so we kept it quiet from when we first chatted about it at the Shield hub in Adelaide, and it slowly built up from there,” the 38-year-old added.

Johan Botha's BBL career

This will be the third team the Botha will be representing in the Australian T20 franchise league. The offie had played for Adelaide Strikers (2012-2014) and the Sydney Sixers (2015-2018) respectively. He had also featured for Hobart during the eighth season of the BBL (2018/19).

The Johannesburg cricketer, who had represented South Africa in 5 Tests, 78 One Day Internationals, and 40 T20Is from 2005 to 2012 migrated to Australia in order to play in the country's domestic league games (2012 itself) and he got Australian citizenship in 2016. The all-rounder had bid adieu to all forms of the game in January 2019. 

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BBL 2020/21 

The 10th edition of the tournament gets underway on 10 December 2020 and will conclude on 6 February 2021. Most of the matches will be D/N fixtures. Sydney Sixers will be defending their title this time around.

Hobart Hurricanes will be locking horns with the title-holders Sydney Sixers in the curtain-raiser that will be played at the Blundstone Arena, Hobart on December 10.

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(Image Courtesy: AP)