 |
| Advertisement |
The fourth season of the SA20 is now a thing of the past with Sunrisers Eastern Cape crowned champions for the third time. Undoubtedly the tournament was a huge success with most games drawing near capacity crowds and the public interest at an all-time high.
We have said it before, and we will say it again; Graeme Smith and his team have put together a compelling offer.
Inevitably though, a major tournament like SA20 will produce winners and losers.
We aren’t just talking about the team that lifted the trophy, we are talking about players who emerged with their reputations enhanced versus those who took backward steps.
As the dust settles on four weeks of outstanding action, let’s have a look at this season’s winners and losers.
WINNERS
Sherfane Rutherford
The West Indies batter had a sensational season for Pretoria Capitals. He arrived in South Africa with a reputation as a powerful middle order batsman, but he was certainly not as highly rated as international teammates Nicholas Pooran or Andre Russell.
But Rutherford was immense almost single-handedly ensuring that Pretoria made it to the final. Rutherford finished as the tournament’s fourth highest scorer with 334 runs at an average of 66.8 and a strike rate of 165.35.
Those are incredible numbers, especially when you consider that Rutherford bats as low as six.
Quinton de Kock
Reborn! De Kock finished the season as the league’s top scorer, which is wonderful, but far more importantly, he looks like a man who is loving his cricket again.
QdK’s time away from the international arena and a switch from DSG to SEC has done wonders for the veteran wicketkeeper. Both his bat and smile suddenly look wider as he goes about his business with verve and joy.
A SA20 title and 390 runs at a strike rate of 148.85 tell part of the story, but this is a tale of rebirth that can only be good for South African cricket.
Ottneil Baartman
The all-time leading wicket taker in SA20, there has been considerable noise about Baartman’s omission from the Proteas squad for the T20 World Cup.
There are many ways that Baartman could have dealt with the setback, but he simply ignored the noise and the obvious disappointment to turn in another season of excellent performances.
With 20 wickets from nine games for the Paarl Royals man at an average of 13.55 Baartman ended the season as the leading wicket taker. He may yet earn a late call-up to the Proteas squad. If he does, it would certainly be fully deserved.
Also read: What venues are being used for the 2026 T20 World Cup?
Sikandar Raza
He arrived in South Africa as the first Zimbabwean to be signed for SA20. Many thought he was there to make up the numbers and that he would be nothing more than a bit-part player for Paarl.
He was ranked as the second best T20 allrounder in the world, but the consensus was that he played the bulk of his games against smaller sides.
Raza showed that you can only play what is in front of you and he took to SA20 like the proverbial duck to water, excelling with both bat and ball (where he finished as the third best bowler in the competition).
At 39 yearsold Raza will be 40 next time SA20 rolls around, but you can be sure that after his achievements in this campaign he will be back again in 2027.
Tristan Stubbs
The draft of this article, written before Sunday’s final, had Stubbs as a loser. He started the season as a Proteas regular but lost his place for the World Cup with opinion being that he had lost his explosive hitting verve.
He earned a late reprieve following the injury to Donovan Ferreira, but he would have found it hard to argue that his strike rate was good enough for a spot in the Proteas side. That all changed on Sunday when he returned to form with one of the best knocks in SA20 history.
It was an innings that was outstanding on many levels, and which underscores why Stubbs is indeed world-class. He arrived at the crease with his side in trouble at 48 for four, the game slipping away from the two-time former champions.
An unbroken stand of 114 runs later SEC were champions and Stubbs had scored 63 runs from 41 balls in an innings that showed he can still hit explosively and that he can finish an innings.
Add to that he led SEC to the title in his first season in charge and suddenly the future is looking a who
Dewald Brevis
The most expensive player in SA20 history, Brevis started the season slowly, appearing to be weighed down by the size of the fee that was paid for him. But he grew in confidence as the tournament went by, finishing with a magnificent century in the final.
It wasn’t enough to win Pretoria the title, but it saw Brevis end the season as the competitions second highest scorer.
It bodes very well for the Proteas that both he and De Kock are in such outstanding form ahead of the games against the West Indies and the T20 World cup.
LOSERS
Jason Smith
Named in the Proteas side for the T20 World Cup there were plenty of questions asked about Smith’s inclusion. Shukri Conrad has gone out of his way to defend the decision and to underscore his belief in Smith.
It would have helped enormously if Smith had been able to do a bit of talking on the field, but he simply couldn’t as he finished the season with just 99 runs at an average of 11 per innings.
It didn’t help that he was part of a struggling MICT middle order, but you can’t help but feel that it could have been a vastly different season for the Newlands’ side if Smith had been able to find form.
Heinrich Klaasen
One of the biggest names in franchise cricket, Klaasen retired from the international game to focus on playing in the world’s T20 leagues.
His 2025 campaign was somewhat underwhelming, and it was disappointing again in 2026 as he managed just 138 runs with a highest score of 29 playing for the under-performing DSG.
For a batter who has the reputation of playing game changing innings there was disappointingly little on offer from Klaasen this season.
Lhuan-dre Pretorius
His performance at teh top of the order for Paarl in 2025 was sensational as he announced himself to the world and ended the season as the competition’s leading scorer.
What followed was an IPL deal with Rajasthan Royals and debuts for the Proteas in all forms of the game. Perhaps it was a case of too much too soon as his form deteriorated as 2025 wore on.
SA20 2026 was his chance to go back to his basics and to build confidence and form once more. He played a handful of useful knocks, but an average of 22.4 and a strike rate of 121.74 are not close to what he would have been aiming for when he set his goals ahead of the season.
Lance Klusener
The DSG coach struggled to get the best out of his team for a second season in a row.
Despite major changes to their playing line-up, Klusener could not coax the best out of a batting line-up that included Devon Conway, Kane Williamson, Aidan Markram, Jos Buttler and Heinrich Klaasen.
They caught fire in the opening game of the tournament at Newlands, but rain and an unsettled batting line-up appeared to throw their season into disarray as they ended second from bottom on the table.
There is a lot to be said for a flexible batting order, but it is generally something best employed when the team is playing well.
Nicholas Pooran
Brought in with a huge reputation as one of the best hitters in the T20 franchise game, Pooran failed to fire, his lack of runs leaving the MICT middle order widely exposed.
While the failure of MICT’s campaign cannot be entirely attributed to Pooran’s lowly returns (he made just 152 runs at an average of 16.89), it was certainly a major factor.
MICT’s top three averaged 42.13 (Ryan Rickelton), 49.8 (Reeza Hendricks) and 27.44 (Rassie van der Dussen), but thereafter nobody made it out of the teens, which is nowhere near good enough when you are defending the title.
Pooran will be wildly disappointed with what he was able to contribute in 2026.
Read next: The 7 shock exclusions from South Africa’s T20 World Cup squad
The post The biggest winners and losers after season 4 of the SA20 appeared first on Cricket365.
from Cricket365 https://ift.tt/oa1KMJ5
0 comments: