The 2025 SA20 is officially underway and there is already plenty to talk about following MI Cape Town’s opening night performance over Sunrisers Easter Cape – the only team ever to have won the tournament.
But what should we be expecting as we look ahead to the weekend, where there are three fixtures scheduled to take place, two on Saturday and one on Sunday. Let’s have a quick look at what to expect.
Paarl Royals v Sunrisers Eastern Cape | SA20 Game 3 | Saturday 11 January 2025 | Boland Park, Paarl | 13:00
Paarl Royals
Ranked as outsiders to win the tournament Paarl Royals could be a real surprise package. Led by David Miller, quite possibly South Africa’s greatest T20 player of all time, this is a team with a good blend of exciting talent and genuine class.
Aside from Miller’s obvious class and track record, the Royals are also able to boast Dinesh Karthik and Joe Root as their big-name stars. Both are proven achievers at the highest level of the game with Root underscoring his temperament and big-match abilities with a higher average in T20I than in regular T20 games. Either way, it’s above 30 and at a strike rate of almost 130, he will be a key figure for Paarl if they hope to have an impact.
Aside from their international veterans, Paarl also features some of South Africa’s brightest young talent – particularly Kwena Mphaka and Nqaba Peter. Although still making their way in the game these are two players with big futures who will be looking to make landmark performance statements in SA20 2025.
A player who has perhaps arrived under the radar but who could prove dynamite for Paarl is Sam Hain. Set to make his debut in the tournament, Hain is an Australian-raised, England international with a solid T20 pedigree.
He has played twice for England in the ODI format, where he averages 53. But he has broad T20 experience having played for, amongst others, Brisbane Heat, Hobart Hurricanes, Warwickshire and the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders. His T20 average is just a shade under 40 and he has played 157 T20 games.
Paarl also features a host of proven local players who often fail to receive the credit that they deserve. Players like Bjorn Fortuin, Andile Phehlukwayo and Lungi Ngidi are experienced campaigners who have achieved at the highest level – and while they have often played in the shadows of higher-profile players their abilities and achievements should not be under-estimated.
To win match
1/1 Paarl Royals | Tie 25/1 | Sunrisers EC 82/100
Sunrisers Eastern Cape
Aside from the early wicket of Reeza Hendricks, not much went right for the defending champions in their opening game against MI Cape Town. They will be thankful for a chance to set things right so soon after the opening loss when they travel to Paarl for their second game.
Momentum is so critical in a tournament like SA20 where the games come think and fast. One of the keys to the Sunrisers’ success in the first iterations of the tournament was their ability to get their big guns firing early and their combination working. In Gqeberha on Thursday not a single Sunrisers batter passed 20 with skipper Aiden Markram the top scorer with 19.
Veteran England international Richard Gleeson was the pick of the Sunrisers bowlers in the opener as he looked both quick and accurate, taking two for 22 in his four overs. In 2024 it was the Sunrisers duo of Marco Jansen and Ottneil Baartman who led the way as leading wicket-takers in the tournament – it was a key element of the team’s success.
Baartman didn’t play on Thursday while Jansen was expensive, going for 38 in his four overs. Although in fairness he was carted for 23 in the final over.
Verdict: Paarl Royals
They won’t go into the game as favourites, but this is an upset in the making. At home, with little to lose and plenty to prove Paarl have what it takes to condemn the Sunrisers to a second consecutive defeat.
Joburg Super Kings v MI Cape Town | SA20 Game 4 | Saturday 11 January 2025 | Wanderers, Johannesburg | 17:30
Joburg Super Kings
A team of big names and a wealth of experience, if there are to be any questions about the Wanderers-based side it is their age.
You could say that this team is creaking with old age as it features the likes of Imran Tahir (45), Faf du Plessis (40), David Wiese (39), Moeen Ali (37) and Jonny Bairstow (35).
These are all undoubtedly great players, but they are also players who are past their prime. Common sense suggests that T20 is a young person’s game, and while there is undoubtedly scope for a wily veteran, you can’t cram a full of 30-plus-year-olds if you hope to be competitive.
The ball travels a long way at the Wanderers and the Super Kings have a host of players who like to hit big. Look out for England’s Jonny Bairstow. He has hit 226 sixes from 202 T20 innings and will be looking to add to that number over the next few weeks.
In a team of older players, one star who seems to keep on improving with age is South African-born, New Zealand international Devon Conway.
Conway played his first T20 game back in 2011 for the Dolphins against the Knights. A long journey followed which included relocating to New Zealand and qualifying for the Black Caps. He now averages 38.05 in T20I and 42.15 in T20. In the 50 over game, he averages almost 45.
He is no slouch with the bat, and he will be a key player for the Super Kings if they hope to go all the way.
Gerald Coetzee will be a key figure of the Joburg side as their primary quick. He is young and full of energy and is the type of bowler who is always going at the batters. He will be supported by Hardus Viljoen (another player who is 35 years plus), Beuran Hendricks and young Sri Lankan international Matheesha Pathirana who has a very impressive set of stats for somebody who has just turned 22. He averages 16.13 in T20I and has already played 73 T20 games.
To win match
1/1 Joburg Super Kings | Tie 25/1 | MI Cape Town 82/100
MI Cape Town
The Cape side showed why they were ranked as pre-tournament favourites when they dismantled reigning champions Sunrisers Eastern Cape in the tournament opener. They dominated with both bat and ball with contributions from the whole side.
It was the unheralded Delano Potgieter who was named man-of-the-match in the opener after he shone with both bat (25 from 12) and ball (five for 10). It is hard to imagine how he could have a better game as the tournament continues to unfold, but his performance showed just what is possible from some of the lower-profile players in the tournament when they are surrounded by world-class quality.
Dewald Brevis has been spoken about for a long time as the next big thing. He has never quite been able to justify the scale of the hype. In 2024 he was the tournament’s 27 highest scoring batsman with 150 runs from 10 innings at an average of 18.75. On Thursday night he showed that he is maybe ready to take his game to the next level as he smote 57 from 29 balls in a knock that included six maximums. He hit the ball crisply and cleanly and if he can replicate his form in the matches to come then SA20 2025 will be a landmark tournament for him.
MI Cape Town is blessed with several world-class players in their ranks. Veteran Kiwi quick Trent Boult showed the benefit of his wealth of experience up front as he took a couple of early wickets to put Sunrisers on the backfoot early. Opening in tandem with Afghan quick Azmatullah Omarzai, MI Cape Town looked excellent from the outset as they offered the Sundowners batsmen nothing but troubles. MI Cape Town didn’t even need to call on the services of Kagiso Rabada who didn’t play.
With a skipper and an opening bowler from Afghanistan, MI Cape Town have now announced Afghan batsman Sediqullah Atal to the mix as the replacement for Ben Stokes. He didn’t play in the opener but look out for him, perhaps even on Saturday – his T20I average is less than impressive but he averages 46 in ODI’s and 34.75 in the T20 game. he could be a more than useful addition to the MI Cape Town middle order.
Ryan Rickelton didn’t play in the tournament opener on Thursday, but he could well be back by Saturday. While the team have yet to issue a statement on his hamstring situation it is not believed to be too bad.
Verdict: MI Cape Town
Expect the men from Cape Town to make it two from two at the Wanderers. Rashid Khan’s side have too many world-class players operating at the top of their game.
Pretoria Capitals v Durban Super Giants | SA20 Game 5 | Sunday 12 January 2025 | SuperSport Park, Centurion | 17:30
In a tournament where every team plays the others home and away, these side meet in back-to-back encounters at the start of the tournament. It will be interesting to see how they go playing each other in such proximity. If one team dominates Friday encounter it will take some mental fortitude for the other side to bounce back just a couple of days later.
Pretoria Capitals
The Capitals were hit by the late withdrawal of West Indian international Evin Lewis who was forced out of the tournament with injury. They have yet t name a replacement.
The Capitals ended the 2024 SA20 in fifth position. They were runners-up at the inaugural SA20 in 2023. They have been made joint-favourites to win in 2025 along with MI Cape Town.
The Pretoria outfit are a side in flux with a new captain and a new coach. Cape Town-born, former England international and current Afghanistan head coach Jonathan Trott has replaced former Pretoria Capitals head coach Graham Ford. Meanwhile, T20 expert Rilee Rossouw has been named skipper, replacing Wayne Parnell. While change is good, it sometimes needs a while for new systems and ways of doing things to take effect – it may be asking a lot for the Capitals’ new leadership team to deliver silverware immediately.
Speaking of Rilee Rossouw, he is one of the most experienced T20 players in the world with 360 games to his credit. He has amassed 9039 runs at an average of almost 30 with eight centuries and 53 fifties.
Keep an eye out for Afghanistan wicketkeeper/batsman Rahmanullah Gurbaz who is quite a special cricketer. Ranked as the 8th best ODI batsman in the world and the 14th best T20I batsman he is a player who could walk into most teams around the world.
England allrounders Will Jacks and Liam Livingstone could be critical parts of the Capitals mix. Both are excellent T20 cricketers with the ability to bowl important overs and score quickly. Livingstone was ranked as the top T20I allrounder by the ICC towards the end of 2024, but he has now dropped down to third. But that’s an indication of what he is capable of – even if he did endure a somewhat disappointing SA20 campaign last time out where he averaged just 12.11 with the bat after 10 innings and 46.33 with the ball.
Durban Super Giants
This is a team that oozes quality – with players like Heinrich Klaasen, Marcus Stoinis, Quinton de Kock, Shamar Joseph, Brandon King and Kane Williamson at the disposal of skipper Keshav Maharaj, this is a team laden with superstars.
Klaasen is undoubtedly the big fish, but he should benefit from the support of plenty of other big fish. This is not a team where he is expected to carry the rest and he will be able to relax and play his shots, knowing that if he fails there are plenty of others who can do some serious damage.
If the Super Giants do have an obvious weakness, it is the lack of genuine quality pace bowlers. That’s not to say that you must have quicks, as the Super Giants boast a very useful spin department, but with Reece Topley not returning for 2025, they have Junior Dala as their obvious quick option, supported by allrounders like Wiaan Mulder and Chris Woakes, both of whom will be key players.
Verdict: Durban Super Giants
They boast too much power with the bat, and they are a more established combination.
