Aya Gqamane

Aya Gqamane is a high class seam bowling all-rounder from South Africa’s Eastern Cape. At first glance, fast bowler doesn’t immediately spring to mind, with his compact stature, however, many of his 300 plus First Class/List A/T20 victims have been guilty of such thoughts. With a classical bowling action, Aya generates good pace, upwards of 80mph, through his fluid bowling action and takes the ball away from the right hander with a sneaky & skiddy inswinger that has caught many on the crease. Suspicions about this young man’s ability were confirmed in just his second First class game, collecting match figures of 12/32 (4/7 & 8/25 including a hat-trick), all 12 victims were bowled or LBW.

His first Franchise appearance for the Warriors also yielded exceptional numbers, 11/70 (4/46 & 7/24) in a man of the match performance against the Highveld Lions. He followed this up a fortnight later with a further MOTM against the Titans in just his third game, this time leading with the bat, having scored 86 (89) batting at No. 10 to give the Warriors a 191-run lead. With the Titans at 4-162, Aya returned for his 2nd spell, striking with his first ball and going on to take 6-15 in just a 4.2 over burst, leaving the Warriors a paltry 14 runs to win.

He relocated to the Northerns/Titans ahead of the 2021-22 summer and bagged 30+ wickets to go with over 300 runs across all formats in his first season at Centurion.

Aya has only two previous trips to the UK, firstly in 2010 consisting of mixed fortunes but did include an innings of 222* (leaving yours truly with a big case of pad rash as a score of 1-365 was accrued) and secondly, a solid, but short 2016, with Wood Lane CC in the ECB North Staffs and South Cheshire Div 1, scoring 380 runs @ 34.55 and picking up 21 wickets @ 20.90.

Aya is seeking a return to the UK next summer and will be a fine signing for any UK club seeking to secure a quality seam bowling all-rounder.