South Africa’s star keeper-batter, Heinrich Klaasen has pulled out of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) due to personal reasons. Klaasen was a part of St Lucia Kings, who as a replacement player have now signed Tim Seifert.

The Kings signed Klaasen in June ahead of the draft. With a 150.18 strike-rate, the South African has become one of the best batters in the format. His career slope has moved upwards after making five lackluster appearances for the Guyana Amazon Warriors in 2022. Seifert, who took his place, is a skilled T20 player who was a part of the Trinbago Knight Riders in the 2020 CPL victory.

Zimbabwean all-rounder Sikandar Raza is another prominent player missing from the competition. He announced on X (previously Twitter) that he would be out for the full season with a (undisclosed) injury. The St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots have not yet announced a substitute player.

Tim David, another pre-draft addition to the league, won’t actually join the Trinbago Knight Riders until after they’ve played four games. Thus, the big-hitting Australian hitter will be temporarily replaced by Andries Gous of the USA, according to the franchise.

The Barbados Royals have also chosen to temporarily replace the Proteas duo of David Miller and Keshav Maharaj with Sri Lankan all-rounders Dunith Wellalage and Shamarh Brooks. The Proteas players are anticipated to miss the team’s opening two games in order to attend the Cricket South Africa awards ceremony on September 5.

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