The SA20 is five games in, four completed and one washed out, and some of the more established names have already made themselves count. Aiden Markram stands top of the charts with most runs (101 runs). All of Kane Williamson, Joe Root and Markram have struck fifties each. Kagiso Rabada has the best economy rate (4.00).
But it is uncapped South African Delano Potgieter who has created the biggest mark early on in the third season. Unbeaten innings of 25 and 44 were coupled with a five-wicket haul in the tournament opener against Sunrisers Eastern Cape.
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If that outlandish show wasn’t enough, up stepped a teenager. 18-year-old Lhuan-dre Pretorius, playing his maiden SA20 match, showed no signs of someone who had experience of just one First Class match. His 51-ball 97, for Paarl Royals against Sunrisers Eastern Cape, is the biggest individual score of the tournament thus far.
One match in and Pretorius already has the highest individual score and most sixes in an innings by a Paarl Royals batter.
“It’s a real dream come true. I’m just trying to be like a sponge and soaking everything in,” he said later. “All the knowledge I’m getting from all the big players, coaches and everything, and especially batting with Joe [Root] out there. He only faced about four dots, so I could just find a rhythm and go with it.”
There was praise from Ben Stokes, who was ruled out of the tournament with a hamstring injury. “One of the many things franchise cricket has done is give young/inexperienced but incredibly talented players opportunities on the biggest stage against the best in the world and show off how good they are,” Stokes posted on X.
Pretorius admitted such words mean a lot. “Ben Stokes is actually my brother’s role model, and I also look up to him,” he said. “It means a lot to me.”
Potgieter gets the ball rolling
Trent Boult did the early damage in the opening game of the tournament for MI Cape Town against Sunrisers Eastern Cape before Potgieter stepped up and polished the job off.
Having first delivered with the bat, he played the bigger role with the ball. Introduced as the sixth bowler, and only the first time in his SA20 career, he took 5/10 in three overs as MI Cape Town registered just their first win over SEC in five attempts.
“Everyone’s got different plans, for different venues and all of that,” Potgieter said. “We have an amazing bowling line-up: KG [Rabada], Trent [Boult], Boschy [Corbin Bosch], with the spinners George [Linde] and Rash [Rashid]. They bowl the bulk of the overs. So there was no need for me to bowl. And, yeah, the captain threw me the ball tonight and I was extremely happy about it, and it turned out perfectly.”
“I couldn’t ask for a better day for it,” he said. “It happened so quickly. I was standing at the top of my mark, and I just said, ‘I’m just going to try to hit the top of the stumps,’ and fortunate enough for me, it worked out perfectly.”
How the league stands
SA20 points table after five games into the third season.
Once again, the league has witnessed packed stands and multiple contenders for the big bounty – R3 million (~$1,55,000 or Rs 13 lakh) worth – for plucking a catch with one hand. Granted that is shared between the fans at the end of it all, but that’s some serious cash!
On the field, there’s been close finishes to enthrall those fans. Durban’s Super Giants won by mere two runs against the Pretoria Capitals. Sunrisers Eastern Cape, the two-time defending champions, have been convincingly swept aside to sit bottom of the standings.
Despite the losing start, and the big margin of losses, Sunrisers Eastern Cape have little reason to beat themselves over it. History dictates they can overturn poor run into titles – like they did in 2023.
“There’s a little bit of a piece of mind knowing we’ve been in this position before and we were able to win,” said skipper Markram.
“But you want to win games of cricket, be it at the start of the competition or at the back-end. It’s never nice to lose but we’ve managed this before.”
And in a complete role reversal, MI Cape Town, who finished bottom in both the first two seasons, occupy the top spot.
