~ Bethell, the 20-year-old hard-hitting all-rounder from Warwickshire joins the Royals ahead of Season 3, along with 29-year-old Hain who has been in excellent form this season with standout performances in England's T20 Blast and The Hundred ~
09 August 2024, National: After the announcement of the addition of two greats of the game, Joe Root and Dinesh Karthik, to their squad for Season 3, Royals Sports Group-owned franchise Paarl Royals on Friday revealed English all-rounder Jacob Bethell and batter Sam Hain as their newest overseas signings for the SA20.
The English duo have been in fine form during the current season of The Hundred and are set to bolster the Royals' squad with their exploits. Both Bethell and Hain join their compatriot, legendary batter Joe Root, who was announced as a signing by the franchise last month.
Bethell was born and raised in Barbados, and won a sports scholarship to the Rugby School in Warwickshire at the age of 13. Having started off as a spin bowler who could bat, Bethell moved up the age groups at Warwickshire with his all-round attributes. He was also part of the England Men's U19 team that reached the Finals of the ICC Men's U19 World Cup in 2022, playing the role of an opener.
He has since been involved with his county across all three formats, impressing both with the bat and ball. In 38 T20s so far, he has accumulated 676 runs at a strike rate of over 140 with majority of his runs coming in boundaries. This year, the youngster has enjoyed a steady start to the T20 Blast, scoring 356 runs at a strike rate of 155.45 and picking up 6 wickets at an economy of just 6.78. In the ongoing The Hundred, the left-hander is second on the list of most runs scored with 111 runs in 3 matches for Birmingham Phoenix.
Meanwhile, Hain was born in Hong Kong and spent his early days in Australia, but moved to England almost a decade back, becoming eligible to represent the country. He came to the limelight after having a stellar 2022 season where he scored over a thousand runs to keep Warwickshire in the top division. He has been an exceptional performer in First Class, List A and T20 cricket, being one of the top performing batters on the circuit.
Known for his low risk shot selection, the ability to find the gaps, rotate strike, and play spin well, Hain has gone on to represent a variety of T20 franchises around the world, and is set to make his SA20 debut in Season 3. He has scored over 4500 runs in 155 T20 matches at a strike rate of 133.95.
Welcoming the two players to the franchise, Royals' Director of Cricket, Kumar Sangakkara, said, "Both Jacob (Bethell) and Sam (Hain) are highly rated individuals as their recent performances have shown and will add to the depth of our squad. Jacob's explosive style of play and game awareness are assets that will prove to be extremely useful in the conditions we play in, in the SA20, both at home in Paarl and away. Meanwhile, Sam's hard-hitting ability to make an instant impact with the bat has really come to the fore recently, and we are all very excited to see what he can deliver for us at Paarl. We are looking forward to having them both with the Royals for Season 3."