Eddie Leie - South Africa - Bowler

A leg-spinner by trade, Eddie Leie, is a South African cricketer who made his first-class debut for the Lions in 2005. However, he couldn't settle into the playing eleven and played just three first-class games in the next five years. Even though he remained on the fringes of the squad, Leie only got the opportunity to represent the Lions in the limited-overs format in 2013.

Leie, who sharpened his bowling skills by watching YouTube videos, had a brilliant Ram Slam T20 Challenge in 2014. Being the joint second highest wicket-taker and having the lowest economy rate in the top 15 bowlers of the tournament, earned him a High Performance contract from Cricket South Africa in 2015.

His performance in the tournament impressed Darren Sammy, who was captaining the Titans that season. Sammy then asked Leie to get himself enrolled in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) auction, where Sammy's team, St. Lucia Zouks, picked him up.

His stint in the CPL though was cut short following his selection in South Africa's T20 squad that toured Bangladesh in July 2015. In only his debut game, he picked up 3/16 and was adjudged the Man of the Match for his performance.

However, Leie only played one more T20 game for South Africa and since 2015 he has been out of the squad. The reason being Imran Tahir's unmatched precision in the shorter forms of the game as well as the emergence of left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj.

Leie continued to pick wickets in abundance for Lions and the upcoming Global T20 League presents him another opportunity to get back on the selectors radar. Benoni Zalmi snapped him up in the 2017 draft.