Titans squad announced for Twenty20 championship

Gerard Dros: appointed the captain for the first-ever International 20:20 Club Championship © Getty Images

Nashua Titans, the current South African Standard Bank Pro20 Cup winners, have named their 15-man squad for the six-team inaugural International 20:20 Club Championship to be held in Leicester from September 15 to17.

The squad will be led by Gerard Dros, the Titans middle-order batsman. The team includes Alviro Petersen, an explosive opener who has ripped apart the bowling in domestic competition, while the bowling line-up includes Pierre de Bruyn and Ethy Mbhalati, and the young Albie Morkel, the South Africa one-day player is also selected in the team.

Delighted after having qualified for the first-ever Twenty20 club championship, Alex Balfour, director of strategy for investors in cricket, said: "The fact that five of the six teams participating in the inaugural International 20:20 Championship are current or recent domestic 20:20 champions gives this tournament real credibility. We will find out who really is the best team in the world at the 20:20 format."

Richard Pybus, the newly appointed coach of the Nashua Titans, said, "Although we miss some of our national players who are on duty with South Africa and South Africa `A', we are looking forward to bringing a young and dynamic side. It will be a wonderful opportunity for the younger players in our squad to put down a marker for the rest of the season."

Other teams include Pakistan's Faisalabad Wolves, Chilaw Marians, English Twenty20 Cup champions Somerset Sabres. Hosts Leicestershire Foxes, and the PCA Masters XI, which will feature a number of current and past England players, will also participate in the tournament.

In the first round, teams will be awarded two points for a win and one for a tie with the top two teams in each group going through to the semi-finals. Winners of these will contest the final that evening.

Titans squad
1 Maurice Aronstam, 2 Gulam Bodi, 3 Pierre de Bruyn, 4 Gerald Dros (capt), 5 Francois du Plessis, 6 Paul Harris, 7 Ethy Mbhalati, 8 Morné Morkel, 9 Johann Myburgh, 10 Alviro Petersen, 11 Aaron Phangiso, 12 Brendon Reddy, 13 André Seymore, 14 Kruger van Wyk (wk), 15 Albie Morkel