Ottneil Baartman, a fast bowler from South Africa, was unable to join Hampshire for the remainder of the T20 Blast due to visa concerns.
Baartman was scheduled to play for Hampshire in their final six group games. Baartman made six appearances at the T20 World Cup during South Africa’s run to the final. But unclear “visa issues” caused a delay in his arrival, and the club revealed on Friday that his contract has been cancelled as their odds of making the quarterfinals are now slim.
Hampshire issued a club statement, saying, “We would like to wish Ottneil all the best and hope to see him in a Hawks shirt in the future.” When Baartman first joined on, he was supposed to be a replacement for Naveen-ul-Haq, who had left Hampshire for “personal reasons” and was now playing Major League Cricket for the Texas Super Kings.
Hampshire enters Friday night’s game against Gloucestershire at the Ageas Bowl ranked seventh in the nine-team South Group of the Blast after two victories, three draws, and five losses. The top four teams advance to the quarterfinals, but they might need to win their final four games in order to advance.
Following their most recent loss to Sussex, their coach, Adi Birrell, remarked, “We’ll have to do some maths to see if we can still qualify.” We’ll have to have a look at it, but I can’t truly believe that two victories out of 10 provides us a chance to get to the quarterfinals.
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“We’ve gained a few points from the three games that were rained out, but we’re not really playing well enough to advance. As we have been all campaign, we were a little off in every area against Sussex. We haven’t exactly performed well across the board.”
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