A week into the third season of the SA20 league, and some of the world’s most gifted talent has enthralled fans and put up numbers to boot.
Before Wednesday’s fixture at Boland Park between Paarl Royals and MI Cape Town, the six-team league is led by MI Cape Town after three matches a piece, with the exception of Paarl Royals and Joburg Super Kings.
Cape Town have played three, won two and lost one.
The Mother City’s Delano Potgieter is firing on all cylinders after week one, currently one of the hottest bowlers and batsman after week one.
From most wickets to the best batting average and third in the amount of runs scored, Potgieter’s name frequently pops up on player standings.
The all-rounder’s best performance so far was against the Sunrisers Eastern Cape, cleaning house with a five-wicket haul.
He’s also quite handy with the bat, putting up 98 runs in his three matches, with six sixes and eight fours.
He’s got the best bowling figures in the tournament so far, with 5/10 from three overs, with an ice-cool 3.33 economy rate.
Pretoria Capitals’ Senuran Muthusamy is right next to Potgieter, throwing darts with his left-arm variation spin.
Muthusamy racked five wickets in three matches with a best of 3/21 in four overs, which was still not good enough for a victory at Kingsmead against Durban’s Super Giants, who pipped them by two runs.
Cape Town’s George Linde and Kagiso Rabada, together with Durban’s Chris Woakes and Richard Gleeson, all have four wickets. Rabada, however, has only played two matches.
Lhuan-dre Pretorius leads the runs charge after week one, with 123 from his two matches at the Paarl Royals. Pretorius has the highest strike rate at 195.2 and has hit the most sixes (seven).
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— Betway SA20 (@SA20_League) January 13, 2025
The 18-year-old left-hander averages 61, with a highest score of 97. Pretoria’s Rahmanullah Gurbaz is behind Pretorius in the highest score standings, after his composed 89 against Durban.
Proteas T20 captain and Sunrisers Eastern Cape skipper Aiden Markram is behind Pretorius in terms of runs scored, with 101 from three matches. Markram put up a best score of 82 against the Paarl Royals this week.
The SEC sit at the bottom of the standings despite their cricketing prowess, with players like Marco Jansen, Tristan Stubbs and Ottniel Baartman in the line-up.
According to MVP rankings, Potgieter is a cut above the rest with 63 points, followed by Pretorius with 57 points.
Third on the MVP rankings is Cape Town’s George Linde, with 72 runs and four wickets in three matches.
Cape Town have three players in the top five of the MVP, including Potgieter, Linde and Dewald Brevis, who, at the start of the season, was named as a young talent to watch this season by AB de Villiers.
Brevis is fifth, while Pretoria’s Gurbaz is fourth on the MVP standings. | Independent Media Sport