Here’s a brainteaser for you.
What do Central Stags captain Tom Bruce and West Indies rising star Matthew Forde have in common?
Two things, actually.
They’ll both be playing for the Central Stags at the upcoming ExxonMobil Guyana Global Super League, and they both hold matching one-day fastest fifty records.
Bruce smashed the New Zealand List A record off 16 balls when the Stags won the 2016 Ford Trophy Final at Pukekura Park, and 23-year-old Forde recently became the joint holder of the world’s ODI record with AB de Villiers, having plundered his 16-ball fifty for the Windies against Ireland last month.
Different format to the T20 showcase that awaits in Guyana, for sure, but the Stags will take it.
Bruce captains the Stags squad named for the GSL, announced today.
Along with Forde, a strong line-up contains a couple of other big names added since the team’s standout 2024/25 Dream11 Super Smash campaign.
Doug Bracewell returns with an opportunity to play his first match for the Stags since March 2024: the veteran all-rounder has been an overseas player for the Joburg Super Kings T20 franchise in the interim.
The Stags also welcome Dean Foxcroft to the GSL squad with the twinkle-toed, off-spinning all-rounder poised to play his first match for the Stags since he transferred to the Otago Volts in 2019.
Foxcroft said he was really looking forward to linking back up with old friends in the green of the Stags jersey again.
“Just like Otago’s got a special place in my heart, CD’s also got a special place in my heart,” said the 27-year-old.
He debuted for the Stags in all formats back in 2018/19 when he was a young, uncontracted rookie on the up, going on to be named the Stags’ Ford Trophy player of the season, before heading south.
Recently he impressed for New Zealand A in Bangladesh (conditions that may not be a world away from those the team can expect in Guyana) and both Foxcroft and Bracewell are capped BLACKCAPS as well.
With Will Young, Ajaz Patel, Josh Clarkson, Blair Tickner, Dane Cleaver, Bruce, and overseas player Forde all in the squad, it means nine of the 14-strong squad heading to Guyana pack International cricket experience.
Patel’s exciting return marks his successful rehabilitation from a serious knee injury and surgery last summer that saw him miss all the fun as the Stags roared through their title-winning T20 campaign.
The premier spinner now headlines a potent quartet of slow options, with fellow left-armer and New Zealand A standout Jayden Lennox, and the right-arm off-spinning all-rounders Foxcroft and Angus Schaw.
Foxcroft brings proven class and heft with the bat, but also sports a T20 career best with the ball of 5-11 in the Super Smash, for the Volts.
This isn’t his first rodeo in the green jersey.
As a rookie in 2019, he top-scored in the Super Smash Grand Final to ensure the Stags won the trophy that year, and there is still a hill named after him on the Seddon Park embankment.
The prospect of Foxcoft recombining with the quality Young, and the explosive power of Bruce and Forde, will be exciting for the team as they head off to unchartered territory to compete against four other T20 squads from around the world for a lucrative prize pool.
Forde joins Clarkson as the only players in the squad to have experienced Guyana conditions first-hand, the pair having played there in the Caribbean Premier League.
Clarkson played for the St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots late last year, while Barbados-born-and-raised Forde has played for the St. Lucia Kings since 2022, and brings valuable local intel.
The big right-armer has played 13 ODIs and six T20 Internationals for the West Indies, opening the attack.
He impressed against the likes of England and Australia and, while his primary skillset is respectable right-arm pace, he hits a long ball, down the order- amply demonstrated by his boundary-strewn world record-equalling half-century.
Forde will be an exciting watch alongside the established firepower and experience in the Central pace bowling ranks.
Tickner has stood up as the Stags’ Player of the Year for the past two seasons, and has been putting in solid performances for Derbyshire in UK County cricket.
Two starts in Guyana would meanwhile see Bracewell register the 100th T20 of his extensive overall career.
He is now the team’s third highest all-time T20 wicket-taker with 75 victims, behind Tickner (111) and Seth Rance who retired with 92.
His ability to lean back and smash the ball over the rope remains electrifying and Bracewell has the distinction of becoming the only player to head away with the Stags to both of their overseas T20 tournaments.
He made his T20 debut in September 2010 as a youngster at the Champions League (in Durban, against the Chennai Super Kings) after the Stags had won the previous summer’s HRV Cup.
Along with pedigree seasoned performers, the Stags also have an exciting crop of emerging stars with Will Clark, Toby Findlay and Curtis Heaphy all playing significant roles in winning the latest Dream11 Super Smash national title.
Heaphy’s class batting is supplemented by genuine wicketkeeping ability that also makes him a ready-made reserve gloveman for Cleaver.
Some of the GSL squad will travel from the UK where they have been playing over the off-season, while the New Zealand-based players will assemble for two training camps before flying to Guyana- reuniting there as a group in early July.
Pace bowler Brett Randell is unavailable as he continues to mend from the broken collarbone that ended his 2024/25 season prematurely.
The Stags will open their GSL campaign against the Dubai Capitals early on July 10, followed by matches with the Guyana Amazon Warriors, Hobart Hurricanes and defending champion the Rangpur Riders.
The action-packed round-robin will determine which two teams make it through to the final on July 18. (GSL)
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