It’s been quite the year for Dane Vilas. Not content with a summer which included an unbeaten 235 against Somerset, he can now add Club Captain for two different sides to his already accomplished CV.
After a stellar 2018 County Championship season, in which he racked up three hundreds and 792 runs, the South African wicketkeeper-batsman has been named as Lancashire County Cricket Club’s captain after finishing as the team’s leading run-scorer.
The 33-year-old captained the side four times last year in the Championship and in his short tenure as a Lancashire player, having signed a Kolpak deal in 2017, has quickly become a fan-favourite.
Vilas said: “I’m absolutely delighted to have been offered the opportunity to become Lancashire captain and I feel honoured and humbled to be in a position to lead the Club forward in the coming years.
“Lancashire has a proud and distinguished history and it’s a privilege for me to be part of writing the next chapter in the Club’s history.
“Even though I’ve only been part of the side for the last two years, I understand the importance of what the red rose means to supporters and the whole squad is determined to win back our position in Division One of the County Championship and to challenge for both white ball competitions next year.”
Vilas used the Neon L540 DXM last season with great success and will continue to use it this winter after also being named as captain for the Jozi Stars in the Inaugural Mzansi Super League, the Twenty20 franchise cricket tournament in South Africa. He will line up against some of the biggest names in cricket in what promises to be a thrilling competition.
"I’m absolutely delighted to have been offered the opportunity to become captain of the Jozi Stars and I feel honoured and humbled to be in a position to lead this T20 team in the upcoming Mzansi Super League,” he said.
The relationship with GM and the Vilas family has grown from strength-to-strength over many years as his family own Opal Sports, the South African distributors for GM. His brothers Brad and Guy attended this year’s GM 2019 product launch, no doubt keeping Dane in the loop about which bat caught their eye the most for him to use in 2019. According to the picture from the launch, Guy seems to approve of Ben Stokes’ new Diamond range.
