SA20 Season 2
A brief look at the teams
I don’t think many people, outside of Sunrisers Eastern Cape fans, would have predicted that they would win the title last season. Cricket is like that, it’s a sport and unexpected things happen in sports. So, I won’t try to tell you who will win this season, but I will talk about one or two things about each team.
Welcome to SA20 season 2!
By the way, if you would like to know a thing or two about some of the rookies in the tournament, you can start reading here:
Pretoria Capitals
The Capitals had one of the best opening duos in the competition. Will Jacks was the sixth-highest run-scorer, had the fourth-highest average and most importantly, had the highest strike rate. He scored three 50s on his way to 270 runs in seven games for an average of 38.57 at a strike rate of 201.49.
His opening partner, Phil Salt averaged 29.75 at a strike rate of 152.56. Both openers went on to have good campaigns in The Hundred, where Jacks averaged 25.22 at a strike rate of 154.42, and Salt averaged 23.20 at a strike rate of 194.95. Since The Hundred, Salt has had a better run in T20 Internationals where he averaged 82.75 at a strike rate of 176.96. In contrast, Jacks has struggled in T20Is, averaging 14.88 at a strike rate of 142.92.
If their English connection clicks, the Capitals will be a handful. They have Theunis de Bruyn, Paul Stirling who came in for Kusal Mendis and Rilee Rossouw in their top six. All three appear in the top 20 list of top run-scorers from last season. They also have the disruptive Jimmy Neesham in the lower order. There are lots of runs at their disposal.
The Capitals also had four bowlers on the top five most wicket-takers list. Anrich Nortje’s absence leaves a hole, but they still have a capable bowling attack led by Wayne Parnell. In 2023, I marked them as favourites when the tournament took a mini-break, and they made it to the final. They are a slightly different team, but can still do some damage.
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Sunrisers Eastern Cape
Sunrisers Eastern Cape defied expectations last season, mainly thanks to Roelof van der Merwe’s heroics with the ball and some incredible hitting from Marco Jansen. This year, the defending champions do not have the services of their van der Merwe, their ‘Moneyball’ pick. To compound their problems, SEC will also be missing Sisanda Magala, who is out injured. Magala was the joint-fifth wicket-taker last season.
SEC has tried to plug those gaps with the signing of Simon Harmer and one of South Africa’s rising stars, Beyers Swanepoel. Swanepoel has taken the domestic scene by storm and the powers that be at SEC will hope that he will have an impact in his first season. Swanepoel will be expected to do for them what Evan Jones did for Paarl Royals.
In 2023, SEC’s campaign with the ball rested squarely on the shoulders of Aiden Markram. South Africa’s T20I captain stood tall. He was the third-highest run-scorer in the tournament. He was supported well by Adam Rossington, the eighth-highest run-getter in the tournament. He would probably have scored more if he had played all matches.
Their numbers six and seven, Tristan Stubbs and Marco Jansen, are highly flammable and might be the key to their success this season. They just need the three other guys in the top six to score big at a high strike rate if they are to retain the title.
Durban Super Giants
I didn’t understand the Durban Super Giants last season. They came in with four specialist batters and almost always chose to play three batters, two bowlers and six all-rounders. As if that was not odd enough, they did funky things with their batting lineup.
Wiaan Mulder opened the batting a few times, batted at number three more than once and also came in at four. Matthew Breetzke oscillated between opening and number three. Quinton de Kock has opened the batting, then came in at first drop three times and even batted at five. Kyle Meyers opened the bowling and the batting. It was quite a lot.
That would probably explain why they had only two batters among the top 20 run-getters list. Quinton de Kock and Heinrich Klaasen did all the heavy lifting. And boy did they bat their hearts out. Klaasen scored the fourth-most runs in the tournament at an average of 60.50, striking at 164.25. De Kock came in fifth, with an average of 30.11 at a strike rate of 151.39.
The Mulder experiment did not work out, he averaged 17.88 at a strike rate of 121.96. Mayers was not much better, he scored at an average of 23.28, striking at 133.60. Breetzke showed that he could smack the ball quite a distance with his average of 62.50 at a strike rate of 137.36. Their bowlers were no better. Only two appeared in the top-20 wicket-takers list, Reece Topley and Dwaine Pretorius at numbers 14 and 15.
DSG looks better prepared for the 2023 season. They brought in three extra batters. The firepower of Nicholas Pooran and the stylings of Tony de Zorzi and Bhanuka Rajapaksa. They also bolstered their bowling with the addition of Naveen-ul-Haq and Noor Ahmed. We haven’t even mentioned their captain, Keshav Maharaj and his Dolphins teammate Jon-Jon Smuts.
Pooran, de Kock and Klaasen topped the Major League Cricket run-getters list. They were number one, two and three at strike rates of over 150. This could be a lethal combination for DSG.
Paarl Royals
The Royals have both, one of the best openers and one of the best finishers in T20 cricket, Jos Buttler and David Miller. Their problem is getting runs from batters on numbers two, three, four and five. Buttler and Miller were the only two Royals batters to appear on the top 20 list of high-scorers last season.
Jason Roy had a torrid 2023. He was ranked lowly in the SA20, The Hundred and IPL. The result was that he was handed only three matches in Major League Cricket. The Royals’ coaching department will need him to rediscover his spark this season, this is not a team with a lot of franchise experience in their batting ranks. Wihan Lubbe can be flammable and Dane Vilas can be dependable.
The Royals have one of the best one-two spin combinations in South Africa in Bjorn Fortuin and Tabraiz Shamsi. Fortuin’s ability with the new ball in the Powerplay means that the Royals can play both spinners in more than a handful of games. An in-form Lungi Ngidi would mean less pressure on Ferisco Adams or Codi Yusuf. They also have good all-rounder options in Andile Phehlukwayo and Evan Jones. Jones proved his worth as a bowler last season, he was one of the top 10 wicket-takers.
MI Cape Town
MI Cape Town had trouble with their opening partnerships for a large chunk of last season. The opening stands did not score a lot of runs and that meant that they did not take advantage of the Powerplay. It’s an area they should have worked on. The signing of Connor Esterhuizen as their rookie was a shrewd bit of business. Among all the rookies available at the auction, Esterhuizen was the only one with franchise cricket experience and he is a good opener on his day.
Esterhuizen is an option they can consider if Grant Roelofsen or Ryan Rickelton fail to take off this season.
If recent history is anything to go by, Dewald Brevis might have a good season. He scored the 10th most runs in Major League Cricket, 165 runs in five matches for an average of 41.25 at a strike rate of 133.06. He followed that up with an impressive domestic season where he scored 372 runs in the One-Day Cup at an average of 53 and a strike rate of 98. He pencilled two centuries and a single 50 next to his name.
He followed that up with 404 runs in a four-day campaign that featured two 100s and two half-centuries.
Last season, MI Cape Town found themselves struggling to fill the gap left by Liam Livingstone, this season they have him. Livingstone comes in on the back of a fruitful spell with England’s T20 side. Since September 2023, he has averaged 30.67 at a strike rate of 144.95. That is the impact you want from your number six. The addition of Chris Benjamin means they have another explosive batter in the middle order.
George Linde is more than a little handy with the bat and lengthens their batting order.
Their bowling did not fare well. They had Kagiso Rabada, a half-fit Jofra Archer and not much else beyond that. Sam Curran was the shadow of his T20 World Cup self and there was little support from Odean Smith. With Rashid Khan missing in action, MICT’s bowlers need to roll up their sleeves.
Did I mention that they have Kieron Pollard as captain?
Joburg Super Kings
In 2023, JSK had three batters among the top 10 batters. That was the most by any team. All three are back this season. Faf du Plessis made a statement in last year’s tournament and went on to make a bigger statement at the IPL. Reeza Hendricks did well each time there was an opening in the Proteas white-ball team and Leus du Plooy did not do too badly in The Hundred. And if what he exhibited in the warm-up matches is anything to go by, du Plooy enjoys batting in South Africa.
The presence of Moeen Ali, David Wiese and Imran Tahir in a lineup that also features Faf du Plessis gives them a distinct Chennai Super Kings feel. Like their Indian cousins, it seems JSK values experience. It has worked for CSK and it might work for JSK.
JSK is one of the handful of teams in the tournament with a quality finisher. Donovan Ferreira hits the ball a long way and is more than a little useful in the event of a collapse.
Imran Tahir reminds me of 80s Chinese kung fu movies. Looks old, but is still extremely dangerous. The presence of Zahir Khan, Kyle Simmonds and Aaron Phangiso means that they are spoilt for choice on who partners with Tahir on slow pitches. JSK also has one of the best pace attacks in the tournament. Having Gerald Coetzee and Nandre Burger on the same team is two or three other teams’ wet dream.
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Thanks for reading. Until next time… - CS