SA20 seen as a stepping Stone into England for Olly

England fast bowler Olly Stone hopes a successful spell with the MI Cape Town (MICT) in the Betway SA20 will secure him a place back in the England squad. 

Once earmarked as one who can play a key role for England in all three formats, Stone has suffered injuries, which prevented him from living up to that billing. He has only played three Tests appearances, six ODI’s and one T20. 

In recent years the England team has gone on to be number one in the Test rankings and win the 50 over and 20 over world cups. Watching the team achieve success whilst on the fringes was hard for Stone and now he wants to be in the mix. 

“It makes you hungry to get to that top level,”  Stone quipped about England’s success when facing the media in Cape Town. 

“They’ve won the 50 over World Cup and a T20 World Cup, and it made me hungry and want to get involved and be part of that success. I’ve been on the fringes a little bit and hopefully coming here and playing in this tournament will show what I can do and break into those teams,” he said. 

While he’s with MICT, Stone said he would look to tap into the knowledge of established international cricket players such as Proteas star Kagiso Rabada and fellow countrymen Jofra  Archer and Samuel Curran. 

“We have got a great mixture of local players and overseas players and tapping into their knowledge and the way they go about their cricket and experience different conditions here can help me improve. 

“I’m going to make sure I tap into the likes of Kagiso, fortunate to spend time with Jofra as well as Sammy Curran. I don’t think you can ask too many questions, hopefully, I can keep learning along the way,” he said. 

The 29-year-old seamer picked up two wickets in the 8-wicket win against Paarl  Royals on Tuesday at Newlands. MICT will play Durban’s Super Giants today and then the following day they face the Joburg Super Kings, both games will be at Newlands (5.30pm).