New Delhi: South Africa’s T20 World Cup preparations have been marred by injury-related concerns. Ryan Rickelton and Tristan Stubbs replaced Tony de Zorzi and Donovan Ferreira. David Miller missed the series against the West Indies, but has been deemed fit to play the 20-team competition co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka.But it is in the bowling department that there has been quite the kerfuffle. Ottneil Baartman was left out of the squad despite taking five wickets in the three matches against India in December, including a four-wicket haul.
The decision to leave Baartman out became even more controversial when the bowler claimed he wasn’t kept in the loop about the decision. This contrasts with Lhuan-dre Pretorius, who, although not in the squad, was notified by the selectors.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!The conflict developed further when Patrick Moroney, the convenor of selectors, stated he had called Baartman after he was left out of the squad. At the same time, he did shed light on the decision to leave Baartman out.
South Africa’s Ottneil Baartman fields the ball during the third T20 cricket match between India and South Africa in Dharamshala, India, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Ashwini Bhatia)
“Unfortunately, in the make-up of a side, there’s no space for (Lungi) Ngidi and Baartman. They bowl more or less the same kind of pace and have the same variations,” Moroney told SportsBoom.“So, you had to pick a player, and Ottneil was made very aware in the conversation that we had on the 1st of January that he’s part of the backup list and that he will be monitored. If the need arises, then we will push on his button if need be.”Despite having his leg heavily strapped in the latter stages of the SA20, Lungi Ngidi has made the trip. So has 19-year-old Kwena Maphaka despite taking just four wickets from eight matches in the recently concluded SA20.Baartman, on the other hand, finished as the leading wicket-taker in the SA20. The 32-year-old took 20 wickets from nine matches at an average of 13.55 and an economy of 9.13. He took a hat-trick during a five-wicket haul, the only fifer this season, against the Pretoria Capitals. Incidentally, Ngidi was the other hat-trick taker this season.The flurry of wickets in the fourth edition allowed him to become the highest wicket-taker in the SA20 history with 61 wickets to his name – just one ahead of Marco Jansen – at an average of 15.15 and economy of 8.32.The voices questioning the decision to leave Baartman out of the T20 World Cup squad found a familiar tone in the form of ex-South Africa seamer Dale Steyn.The Proteas legend, who worked with Baartman for three seasons as the bowling coach of the Sunrisers Eastern Cape, wrote on social media: “He’s the highest wicket taker in SA20, won the league twice and made a final, let me remind you, that’s a comp [competition] that has 4 INTERNATIONAL players (often batters) plus all the PROTEAS! He’s number 1,” Steyn tweeted. “Thats TOP quality, but he’ll be sitting home for this years 20/20 WC.“
Late bloomer from Ostrich capital of the world
In a country where cricket is a rich person’s sport and players get picked from elite private schools and academies, 32-year-old Baartman is an outlier. He was born in the Klein Karoo region, in the small town of Oudtshoorn, nicknamed the ‘Ostrich capital of the world’.One of two children raised by a single mother, Baartman didn’t have a father figure growing up. His mother Maria, provided for the family and ensured neither of the two kids slept on an empty stomach.
New Chandigarh: South Africa’s Ottneil Baartman bowls a delivery during the second T20 International cricket match of a series between India and South Africa, at Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, in New Chandigarh. (PTI Photo/Shiva Sharma) (PTI12_11_2025_000514A)
“My mother was a mother and father. I never had a father figure. I met my father, but he was never around,” Baartman had said before.“To raise me with nothing, and for me to be here, means the world to me. If it weren’t for her, I would not be here.“That’s massive for me. Still with nothing, she makes it work. I can’t help but get emotional, but to raise two kids the way she did was exceptional. The biggest thing for me for now is that I know I play for my family.”His first brush with cricket came at the local Bridgton Sports Ground, where his cousin Douglas played for the Union Stars Cricket Club. In the absence of a TV until his teens, this was Baartman’s only tryst with the sport. Everything he picked up on the sidelines was then replicated back home, on the streets, with his buddies.The dream of playing for the Proteas meant he needed to get out of Oudtshoorn where top-level domestic cricket remained absent. Having played for the South-Western Districts and Northern Cape at the provincial level, he moved to the province of Free State, before a jump to KwaZulu-Natal with the much more fancied Dolphins.
South Africa’s Ottneil Baartman, front center, celebrates with teammates after taking the wicket of India’s Washington Sundar during the first ODI cricket match of a series between India and South Africa, at JSCA International Stadium Complex, in Ranchi, Jharkhand. (PTI Photo/Kamal Kishore) (PTI11_30_2025_000306B)
It took a decade of toiling in domestic cricket to be recognised and picked for the national side. In 2021, he was called up to the South Africa Test squad but wasn’t included in the playing XI. The same year, he became the inaugural winner of the Makhaya Ntini Power of Cricket Award.The right-arm seamer finally got his due when he featured against the West Indies in May 2024. His ODI debut came not long after, versus Ireland in October. Despite featuring in the 2024 T20 World Cup, Baartman has played only 23 international matches, taking 30 wickets at an average of 23.2.Even though he largely remains on the sidelines for the Proteas, the 32-year-old has performed effectively in the SA20 and T20 franchise cricket. In the SA20 auction in 2025, Paarl Royals spent R5.1 million (Rs 51 lakh) on him. Elsewhere, he was linked with the Delhi Capitals in the IPL, Hampshire in England’s T20 Blast, and came in as an injury replacement for the Texas Super Kings in USA’s Major League Cricket (MLC).Now a father, his objective is the same as that of his mother – focusing on the family.
India’s Kuldeep Yadav, left, being congratulated by South Africa’s Ottneil Baartman after winning the first ODI cricket match of a series between India and South Africa, at JSCA International Stadium Complex, in Ranchi, Jharkhand. (PTI Photo/Kamal Kishore) (PTI11_30_2025_000571B)
“My daughter, my son, my wife are back home now. I’m assuming they’re screaming back home now, but yeah, it means so much to my family,” he said after the hat-trick and fifer this season.“I’ve hardly seen them for the last four months. Obviously, I was in Pakistan, and then I went from there to India, and then straight from there, it’s SA20.“And then, probably from here, I go back to the domestic franchise team. So, probably to them (his family) because they sacrifice a lot. I don’t see them often, but yeah, they support me so much from the sidelines.”
Baartman like Mohammed Shami
Rather ironically, Baartman was part of South Africa’s T20 World Cup squad run in 2024, rewarded for his 18-wicket showing in the second season of the SA20. Still uncapped when the squad was announced then, Baartman took five wickets in the tournament, including a four-wicket haul against the Netherlands. His shining moment came against Nepal when he successfully defended 7 runs in the final over.He’s only played 11 of South 32 T20Is since then, taking 13 wickets in the process. Unlike Ngidi and co. who boast of slower ones and variety in their arsenal, Baartman relies on his ability to get the ball to skid through.In Indian conditions, a ball coming quicker, staying low, going underneath a batter’s swinging arc would have made a world of difference.
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Steyn had compared Baartman early on to an Indian seamer, who also fails to get his dues despite going about his job effectively in domestic cricket.“He reminds me a lot of Mohammed Shami where his seam comes down, he’s got a great wrist and his lines are perfectly straight, so very rarely does he bowl a short wide-cut ball, or a ball which goes down leg. Something similar to Anriche Nortje, his lines are gun barrel straight and his seam is really good. He comes with little problems, he’s easy to coach and it’s easy for him to kind of zone in on a particular area which is important when you’re playing at the highest level,” said the legendary bowler.All this, unfortunately, counts for nothing as South Africa go into the T20 World Cup with their best white-ball bowler sitting at home.
