OBAKENG MELETSE
The SA20 will enter its third season from January 9 next year, having injected a heavy dose of excitement into South African cricket over the last two years, with the third edition promises nothing less.
The Sunrisers Eastern Cape backed up their inaugural win of the tournament with yet another impressive showing in the second edition. They walked all over the Durban Super Giants to clinch their second title by a massive 89 runs.
Under the leadership of Aiden Markram, they have set the bar very high, and for the past two seasons many have tried to dethrone them but without any success. The Eastern Cape side have laid down their marker as the undisputed heavyweight champions of SA’s premier T20 competition.
It will come as no surprise that heading into the next season, all of the other five sides will come out guns blazing looking to stamp their authority on the competition in an effort to have their name engraved on the prized trophy and to become only the second team to have won the competition.
Ryan Rickelton was in the form of his life at the top of the order for MI Cape Town, and he was the standout batter in the whole tournament, scoring 530 runs in 10 matches. Ottniel Baartman, meanwhile, put up performances that knocked down the door and earned him a place in the Proteas set-up, but it was his teammate Marco Jansen, with his 20 wickets in 13 matches, who earned the leading wicket-taker honours.
IPL legends Dinesh Karthik and AB de Villiers have been named the ambassadors for the 2025 season, and this is how the rest of the sides have beefed up their squads so far.
Sunrisers Eastern Cape
The defending champions are looking to make it three in a row and they are showing no signs of slowing down as they have added in-form Proteas Test batter David Bedingham to their squad.
The 30-year-old has shown a lot of good skills in the red-ball format but he is no stranger to the T20 game with 1 375 runs scored in 68 matches at a strike rate of 135.06. Destructive English opener Zak Crawley will also form part of the orange army next season alongside the returning Roelof van der Merwe.
Durban Super Giants
Runner’s-up DSG are out to go one better than last season, and they have added New Źealand great Kane Williamson, while Brandon King will bring the Caribbean flair and power at the top of the order. English all-rounder Chris Woakes will be a welcome addition to the side with his proven all-round game set to add a spark of life to the Durban side and hopefully see them over the line.
Pretoria Capitals
The Capitals failed to match the first edition's performance and had a season to forget, finishing second from bottom with only three wins. The addition of Afghanistan’s Rahmanullah Gurbaz after a great outing at the T20 World Cup will have a huge impact on the batting line-up along with exciting English batter Will Smeed.
Joburg Super Kings
JSK have acquired the services of Proteas and former world No 1 spinner Tabraiz Shamsi. The 34-year-old has played 70 T20 Internationals and he moves from the Paarl Royals after having played for them for the past two seasons. Shamsi will be joined by the powerful English opening batter Jonny Bairstow, who will be in line to make his SA20 debut.
Paarl Royals
Promising all-rounder Dayyaan Galiem has made the switch to Paarl after being with the Joburg franchise and playing three matches last season. Galiem will be joined by experienced English international Joe Root who has shown a different side to his game in the Bazball era.
MI Cape Town
The Capetonians, meanwhile, are rumoured to be close to securing the services of English Test captain Ben Stokes.