Stevie Eskinazi of Middlesex

• Stevie Eskinazi, who heads the run-scoring list in England’s domestic T20 competition, has Johannesburg roots.
• He was born to a Zimbabwean father and English mother … while being educated in Australia.
• Seasoned former Proteas all-rounder David Wiese is pushing him hard for runs registered in the Vitality Blast.

Stevie who? Many South Africans would be excused for posing the question.

But it is worth knowing that – however tenuous his links may be – 26-year-old Stevie Eskinazi, current joint-leader of the run-scorers in England’s Vitality Blast T20 competition, has at least a little bit of a Gautenger in him.

The right-handed wicketkeeper/batsman (Middlesex) shares the statistical accolade with England veteran Luke Wright of Sussex: both have 240 runs from five innings at an average of 48.00.

Eskinazi is slightly superior on strike rate grounds, however, given his figure of 154.83, whereas 35-year-old slugger Wright sports 147.23.

His prolific tournament to this point includes knocks of (from start) 24 against Essex, 84 against Kent, 79 against Sussex, 51 against Essex again, and a first-time failure of two in most recent innings against Surrey.

Eskinazi is about as cosmopolitan a cricketing figure as you will get: he was born in Johannesburg in March 1994, to an English mother and Zimbabwean father, although the family shifted to Australia when he was young and he underwent his education in the “mini-South Africa” of Perth, Australia, at Christ Church Grammar School and then the University of Western Australia.

He clearly understands any confusion about where his national loyalties may lie: “I guess there’s no real way to establish what nationality I really am … I could be a mixture of anything,” he is quoted on his Cricinfo profile as saying.

But Eskinazi knows that he can’t rest on his laurels; apart from the neck-and-neck challenge of Wright, at least one more outright South African is on his tail.

David Wiese, Roodepoort-born and a 26-cap white-ball past player for the Proteas, has amassed 201 runs from only four innings for Sussex to lie fourth on the runs chart – he has only been dismissed twice so his average is a giddy 100.50.

The wiry all-rounder also spoiled a potential Eskinazi party a few days ago: his unbeaten 79 to win the match at Lord’s was a decisive counter to the former’s own knock of 79 after Middlesex batted first.

There is another little South African-related quirk to the broader T20 environment in England at present.

The explosive form of Dawid Malan for their national team itself of late has seen him propelled to the helm of the ICC rankings for T20 international batsmen.

Now 33, the former Paarl Boys High School pupil was born in England but has South African parentage.

The left-hander has been a key figure in England’s respective recent series against Pakistan (shared 1-1) and Australia (2-1 win), and is no stranger to fans of Boland and the Cape Town Blitz, both of whom he has represented.

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