English duo Jacob Bethell and Sam Hain set for SA20 stint with Paarl Royals

Bethell, who was born in Barbados, moved up the age groups at county side Warwickshire with his all-round attributes and also impressed when England reached the final of the ICC U19 World Cup in 2022.

The left-handed batter has had a steady start to the T20 Blast tournament in England, scoring 356 runs at a strike rate of 155.45 and picking up six wickets at an economy of just 6.78 bowling spin.

Hain, meanwhile, came to prominence after having a stellar 2022 season where he scored over a thousand runs to keep Warwickshire in the top division of the English County Championship.

The 29-year-old as gone on to represent a variety of T20 franchises around the world and  has scored over 4500 runs in 155 T20 matches at a strike rate of 133.95.

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."

The English duo join England legend Joe Root and India's Dinesh Karthik as pre-signings for the Paarl-based franchise.

The third season of the SA20 will kick off on 9 January until 8 February 2025 with the Sunrisers Eastern Cape having won the first two editions of the tournament.

READ MORE: Paarl Royals sign veteran India gloveman Dinesh Karthik ahead of SA20 campaign