Jesse-James Albanie

Jesse-James Albanie is a skilful seam bowling talent from Worcester in South Africa’s Western Cape region. A useful right-handed lower order batsman at professional level, he is capable of batting higher in the UK but his dominant skill is certainly his right-arm Fast/Medium seam bowling. He attended Worcester Gymnasium High School and played his club cricket for Worcester United growing up.

He headed off to University in Potchefstroom, joining the PUKKE Cricket program to keep his development going but also to be in the North West Dragons line of sight. Jesse represented the North West Rural side in the CSA Rural championships as he progressed through the University 1st XI and was brought into the Dragons Academy program shortly afterwards. Off the back of some excellent performances in the Premier League for PUKKE, Jesse was handed his professional debut for the North West Dragons in the CSA 4-Day Competition in November 2021.

Seeking more regular game time, Jesse opted to head north east to Limpopo ahead of the 2023-24 season. His impact was pretty immediate, bagging match figures of 10-108 in his 3rd appearance for the Impalas.

With genuine pace and swing, Jesse headed to the UK for the first time in 2024, joining Heathcoat CC in the ECB Devon Premier League. He was solid, chipping in with 348 runs and picking up 25 wickets @ 22.08.

Keen to return to the UK next summer, Jesse will be a good pick up for any UK club seeking a new ball bowler that can contribute with the bat. Jesse is an ECB Level 2 equivalent coach.