Daryn Dupavillon — the fast bowler kept for the hard overs

Pace, bounce, and a retained place

Dupavillon was retained rather than bought, which is the quieter kind of compliment. Durban’s looked at their pace attack and decided he was part of it — not a gap to fill at the auction.

He bowls right-arm fast, hits the pitch hard, and gets the kind of bounce that troubles batters even on slow surfaces. In a T20 attack, that is a distinct skill: not every bowler can hurry a set batter, and Dupavillon can. His overs tend to come when the batting side is looking to accelerate, which is exactly when a wicket matters most.

The attack around him is deep. Gerald Coetzee leads it, Kwena Maphaka brings left-arm pace, and the spin group is led by Sunil Narine and Simon Harmer. Dupavillon’s job is to be the bowler the captain can throw the ball to in any phase and trust to compete.

The bowler for the overs that decide games

Dupavillon’s value is in the middle and at the end — the overs where batters attack and games turn.

A fast bowler who can bowl a hard length and follow it with a well-disguised slower ball is gold in the last five overs. Dupavillon gives Aiden Markram that option, and he gives the attack a different shape to Coetzee’s raw pace and Maphaka’s left-arm angle. Variety, in a long season, is what keeps batters from settling.

A settled squad, still chasing the first title

Durban’s Super Giants kept 18 players and bought nobody at the auction, so the attack Dupavillon returns to is the one he already knows. Aiden Markram captains, Lance Klusener coaches, and Kingsmead in Durban hosts five home league games in Season 5.

The SA20 season starts on Sunday 17 January 2027, with the Super Giants’ first home game against Sunrisers Eastern Cape on 21 January. See the full SA20 Schedule for the fixtures, and the SA20 Players index for every squad. Dupavillon’s overs will not always make the highlights — but they may decide the tight games.