SA20 Preview

Screenshot from Sunrisers Eastern Cape twitter account

The inaugural season of the SA20 gets underway in a couple days time, starting on the 10th January with MI Cape Town facing Paarl Royals in the season opener. 22 games will be played in the next two weeks, before we have the unusual situation of a mid season break for nine days so South Africa can play an important ODI series against England. After that, the remaining eight matches will be played, with semi-finals taking place on the 8th & 9th February and the final on the 11th.

It looks to be a straight semi-final format, with 1st vs 4th & 2nd vs 3rd, which I wouldn’t be a fan of, the page play-off format is much better and actually rewards the teams that play well during the group stages.

Initially, squad sizes were capped at 17, with a maximum of seven overseas players allowed. After the auction, Cricket South Africa announced that each team would get a wildcard pick, which could either be a domestic or an overseas player.

Wildcard picks:

• Durban Super Giants - Akila Dananjaya
• Joburg Super Kings - Aaron Phangiso
• MI Cape Town - Jofra Archer
• Paarl Royals - Andile Phehlukwayo
• Pretoria Capitals - Senuran MuthUsamy
• Sunrisers Eastern Cape - Jordan Herrmann

It wasn’t surprising to see a couple of SLA bowlers picked up (Phangiso & Muthusamy), both have been reliable performers in domestic cricket and SLA has generally been very important in South Africa, it looked to be an obvious gap in the Joburg Super Kings & Paarl Royals squads.

The most high profile name added is obviously Jofra Archer, further boosting an already impressive MI Cape Town squad, though he’ll only be available for two matches, as the ECB look to ease him back into professional cricket.

Jordan Hermann looks to be a wise pickup for Sunrisers Eastern Cape, they were a team in need of another LH batting option and he’s enjoyed a good run of form in domestic cricket this season.

Squad analysis:

Data correct as of January 3rd 2023

MI Cape Town were the only side with an obvious strategy when it came to recruiting youth, only three of their 18 man squad is over the age of 30, while every other team has at least five players over that age benchmark. Durban have the highest number (11) and are unsurprisingly the oldest squad in the tournament, though they aren’t the most experienced, with that honour belonging to the Paarl Royals.

Despite being the youngest team in the tournament by a distance, MI Cape Town still have a higher average t20 appearances per squad member than a couple of the teams. This includes Sunrisers Eastern Cape, who decided to go with a lot of English players with their overseas picks, many of whom have limited franchise experience outside of the t20 Blast/Hundred, which could be considered a potentially risky approach.

Conditions:

In the absence of a franchise tournament in South Africa, the CSA T20 has been the main source of t20 cricket for many domestic players over the last 2–3 years and in general, the batting conditions haven’t been the easiest:

As you can see, the recent CSA T20 season’s have been some of the lowest scoring tournaments that we’ve seen of late. Of course, this partly comes as a consequence of Covid and playing many games at the same venue, however, that does apply to some of the other leagues as well.

The pitches have certainly been tricky, though perhaps not the extent that the lower economy rates suggest. I think the bigger issue is probably the inefficiency with the way many of the domestic players approach t20 cricket - lacking the mindset and/or ability to play a more attacking style of cricket that is needed in t20’s. Players such as Brevis, Stubbs, Ferreira, as well as a few of the regular South African white ball players have proven that it is possible to score at a good rate on these pitches.

Nevertheless, it’s probably fair to say that conditions in South Africa recently have favoured the bowlers, particularly spinners and especially later on in the tournament. SLA has been the most economical bowling type, going at under 6.5 rpo, shortly followed by off-spin at 6.7 rpo, wrist spin has been slightly more expensive (7.36 rpo), though it does have the best average of any bowling tournament. LA pace has been the most expensive by distance, though that’s likely a sample size issue, with well under 10% of deliveries being bowled by LA pacers.

Overall, there hasn’t been a chasing bias in recent CSA T20 seasons, with the chasing side winning only 48% of matches, across a sample size of 74 games.

Despite the indifferent conditions post-covid, I think it’s fair to assume we can probably expect a much higher scoring tournament in the SA20. Six different venues being used, as well as the added quality through overseas & SA internationals should ensure that. And in any case, the two Mzansi Super League tournaments (2018 & 19) had economy rates of 7.7 & 8 rpo respectively and the 18/19 CSA T20 season also had an ER of just over 7.7 rpo.

A higher scoring tournament is certainly likely and there are a couple of venues in particular that offer good batting conditions:

Note - This is overall economy rate, so includes extra’s. Data tracked manually - any errors are my fault.

The Wanderers stadium is well-known for being one of the fastest scoring venues in the world, therefore it’s unsurprising to see that it has the highest run rate and also the highest average winning score. Centurion is another good batting track and Newlands is perhaps slightly better than the numbers suggest and a strong MI Cape Town batting unit will fancy their chances of posting some high scores in their home games.

Kingsmead and St George’s Park are the slowest scoring venues by a distance, though it is worth noting that both venues hosted CSA T20 tournaments during the Covid-interrupted seasons (20/21 & 21/22), where all games were held at one venue. If we remove the CSA T20 games held at these venues, both have an economy rate of 7.92 rpo, which is much closer to the other four venues being used.

Boland Park is a decent batting surface, though it’s one of the bigger venues in South Africa, which can bring spinners into the game a bit more than at some of the other venues.

Venue graphics

Courtesy of @mjnotout:

None of the venues are particularly large, with the exception of Paarl, which generally has two or three decently sized boundaries. If the pitches are good, we should be in for a fairly high scoring tournament.

Standout performers in domestic cricket

Average & strike rate for batters:

Colour of dot indicates whether the player has an SA20 contract

From a basic point of view, the recruitment of domestic batters in the SA20 looks to have been fairly efficient, with many of the best performing players earning a contract. The one exception to this is Jacques Snyman - a destructive top order batter, who has performed well, especially in the last two seasons - averaging over 30, while striking at 148. You’d assume he’ll be high up on the list for any potential injury replacements that could be needed throughout the season.

The standout performers aren’t really surprising, with the likes of Stubbs, Ferreira, Brevis and Miller being some of the best performers whenever they’ve played in the tournament. Mulder would perhaps be the more surprising one, given that he doesn’t have the best overall t20 record, though he’s enjoying a good domestic season across all formats and should do well in the SA20.

Of the weaker performers, Potgieter and Pretorius are certainly capable of far more than those numbers suggest and I’d expect them to perform much better in the SA20, though Potgieter won’t necessarily be a certain starter.

Boundary percentage vs non-boundary strike rate:

Colour of dot indicates balls per six hit

Stubbs and Ferreira are the most impressive players here, with two of the best non-boundary strike rates, as well as being well above average when it comes to boundary/six hitting. It’s a rare combination and not something that many players, of course, the position they bat does help with this. Nevertheless, it’s very impressive.

The best boundary hitter is Wesley Marshall - a volatile opener who was signed by MI Cape Town. He’s not consistent by any means but once he gets going, he can be difficult to stop, hopefully he can fire in this tournament.

Brevis is the 2nd best boundary hitter, outperforming the likes of Stubbs and Ferreira in this regard, however, he’s been a weaker strike rotator and that’s consistent with his franchise data at this point, where he has a non-boundary strike rate of under 50 in his IPL/CPL games thus far. At this stage, he’s a bit ‘boom or bust’.

That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, his six-hitting ability is already elite, though Stubbs has been a slightly more frequent six hitter in CSA T20 matches, both hit a six more regularly than every ten deliveries in their t20 careers thus far - numbers that are already elite. Overall, Brevis & Stubbs have hit 8.6% of the total sixes in the last three CSA T20 seasons, despite only facing 3.2% of the total deliveries. A stat that demonstrates how far ahead of most domestic batters these two are.

Bowling economy and strike rates:

Colour of dot indicates whether a bowler is a spinner or non-spinner.

Unsurprisingly, given what was mentioned about the conditions earlier, the better economy rates are dominated by spinners. This is the case for many leagues, though perhaps more extreme than most in recent CSA T20 seasons. Overall, non-spin has gone at 7.8 rpo in the last three seasons, compared to 6.7 rpo for spinners.

Some of the better spinners include veteran - Aaron Phangiso and Senuran Muthusamy, two players that were picked as wildcards; I certainly expected both to be picked at the auction. Subrayen and Harmer have been two of the other most economical spinners and both will be playing for Durban Super Giants this season, it’ll be interesting to see which of the two gets the starting berth, given that they’re both off-spinners and you’d assume it’s unlikely that they’d feature in the same XI.

The most consistent pace bowlers have been Eathan Bosch, Lizaad Williams and Ottneil Baartman. I’m looking forward to seeing more of these three throughout the tournament, though they aren’t necessarily guaranteed starters apart from Baartman. Bamanye Xenxe was on fire in the most recent CSA T20 season, taking 18 wickets in eight matches but it wasn’t enough to earn him a deal as a wildcard. He’s another player that’ll be high up on the list if injury replacements are needed.

Team Previews

Durban Super Giants

Coach - Lance Klusener

Captain - Quinton de Kock

Squad:

Screenshot from Durban Super Giants twitter account

Changes from the above squad:

• Kyle Abbott has been replaced by Hardus Viljoen.
• Akila Dananjaya added as a wildcard pick.

Availability issues:

• Dilshan Madushanka - In the Sri Lanka squad for the white ball series vs India, will likely miss the first 3–4 games of the SA20.
• Jason Holder - West Indies have a test series against Zimbabwe, beginning on 4th February, which you’d assume he’d be involved in. If that was the case, Holder would miss the last three group games, plus knockouts.
• Kyle Mayers - Same as above.

Pre-auction signings - Reece Topley, Kyle Mayers, Jason Holder, Quinton de Kock & Prenelan Subrayen.

In my opinion, Durban were one of the least inspiring squads built at the auction, failing to significantly improve their side from the pre-auction signings they made. They’ve got lots of similar players, with pace hitters at the top of the order (De Kock, Mayers & Charles) and then lots of all-rounder style options through the middle/lower order (Mulder, Pretorius, Holder & Paul).

There’s an alarming lack of quality wrist/mystery spin options, which you’d think would be a decent option against many of the domestic batters in the competition. Viljoen is a pretty decent replacement pick and should improve them as a team, bowling through the middle overs in an enforcer style role, while offering some hitting quality lower down the order.

Maharaj and Klaasen were probably their best picks at the auction. Maharaj gives them a reliable spin option, at a home ground that often favours spin and there’s the added bonus that Maharaj is also familiar with those conditions, having played over 40 domestic t20 games there, where his economy is just under 6rpo. While Klaasen gives them some much needed quality against spin, his wicket will be crucial in Durban matches, as most of the other players have a strong preference for pace on the ball.

Possible XI:

This is the XI I’d expect them to go for, with Mayers, Charles, Holder and Topley as the overseas players. Although Madushanka could push for a place once he’s available, but I probably see him as more of a back up for Topley, which could be needed given he’s only just returned from injury.

The major selection debate is probably which off-spinner they decide to play - Prenelan Subrayen and Simon Harmer are the two options they have. Given that Subrayen was one of their pre-auction signings, I’d expect him to get a run in the side initially. However, there isn’t much between the two and Harmer is probably the slightly better batting option, though that doesn’t look to be a necessity based on the likely XI.

Another discussion point within the XI will be over how they structure their top order. Mayers, Charles and De Kock are all players of a similar ilk - in the sense that they all have a strong preference for hitting pace and Mayers has a particularly poor record against spin. All three have mostly opened during their t20 careers.

You’d assume that Durban would want a LH/RH combination, so one of Mayers/QDK will drop down the order. Interestingly, both played together for the Barbados Royals in the most recent CPL season and it was QDK that often batted lower down and I’d expect that to be the case again here, given he has a more impressive range against spin.

Team strengths:

• Batting depth - Hardus Viljoen is a capable hitter and would likely come in at number 8 if he plays and after that they’d still have Maharaj and one of Subrayen/Harmer to come, who aren’t necessarily great hitters but they’re capable of hitting a boundary if needed.
• Bowling options - There’s plenty of bowling options in the XI, with three pace bowlers and two frontline spinners. As well as Pretorius, who can be effective through the middle and later in the innings - he also bowled quite well in the recent t10 tournament. Mulder and Mayers can also provide a part-time option and it wouldn’t surprise me if Mayers is occasionally given one over with the new ball.
• Top order pace hitters - All three of the top order are very capable against pace, boasting strike rates of 150, 143 and 152 respectively. This will be particularly useful in South Africa, especially at some of the away venues, where pace on the ball is often the preferred option. Mayers, in particular has shown progression with his t20 game and can play some eye-catching shots - hitting a six every 11.2 deliveries against non-spin, which is impressive for a top order player.

Team weaknesses:

• Batting against spin - Considering their home venue is Durban I would’ve expected them to sign more quality players of spin. As it stands, they look very reliant on Klaasen to counter spin through the middle, with a run of RHB’s to come after him.
• Powerplay bowling - Unless they do something unexpected with their overseas balance, the Durban XI potentially looks a bit light on powerplay bowling. They look very reliant on Topley, Holder can do a job but doesn’t carry the greatest wicket taking threat. Orthodox spin will probably be a less viable option than it is in domestic cricket, due to the higher quality of top order players.
• No quality wrist spin - As mentioned above, I don’t expect orthodox spin to carry the same level of threat as in domestic cricket, especially in their away matches. This could leave Durban regretting the fact they didn’t sign a high quality wrist spinner, or indeed, any wrist spinner, until picking up Dananjaya as a wildcard pick.
• Strike rotation - With the exception of Klaasen, most of the XI are very weak strike rotators, which could be an issue in Durban, where it isn’t the easiest ground to hit boundaries.

Player stats sheet:

Batting:

• Poor strike rotation is a noticeable theme with this Durban side, only QDK and Klaasen have a non-boundary strike rate of over 60. Although that’s partly down to a lot of their batters playing many matches in the CPL, which is typically one of the most difficult leagues to rotate strike in.
• Look particularly vulnerable against ‘spin away’ from the bat, there’s only really Klaasen that can offer any form of counter to spin matchup that doesn’t work in his favour.

Bowling:

• Many of their bowlers have impressive numbers at domestic level. I’m interested to see how that translates to a higher level of cricket, especially for the orthodox spinners. With more structured batting line ups (in most cases) and batters that’ll take more risks, I’d expect a decent drop off in numbers.
• Options through the middle overs okay but potentially a little light in both crucial phases. Will need Pretorius to step up at the death - a strategy that is quite high risk given the pace he bowls at. Will be relying on his variations and accurately targeting the wide line, keeping it away from the hitting zone.

Domestic:

Summary

Overall, I think Durban are definitely one of the weaker teams in the tournament. Their pre-auction signings weren’t spectacular and nor was most of what they did at the auction. There’s too many similar players in the XI, such as Mulder, Pretorius and Holder, meaning they don’t necessarily have the greatest role coverage and there’s also plenty of players that are playing out of position.

Individual quality from the likes of De Kock, Klaasen and Topley could help them out, beyond that, they look extremely limited and certainly aren’t one of the better teams in this competition.

They’d do well to make the play-offs in my opinion.

Joburg Super Kings

Coach - Stephen Fleming

Captain - Faf du Plessis

Squad:

Changes from the above squad:

• Caleb Seleka has been replaced by Neil Brand.
• Harry Brook has been withdrawn from the tournament by the ECB, Joburg are yet to name a replacement.
• Aaron Phangiso added as a wildcard pick.

Availability issues:

• Maheesh Theekshana - Involved in the ODI series vs India and will likely miss the opening three games of the season.

Pre-auction signings - Faf du Plessis, Gerald Coetzee, Romario Shepherd & Maheesh Theekshana.

Losing Harry Brook is obviously a huge blow, he was a key part of their middle order planning and would’ve been well-suited to the pace friendly conditions in Johannesburg. JSK haven’t yet named a replacement, which isn’t ideal, though perhaps not surprising given the amount of other t20 cricket that’s currently being played, they may opt to stick with what they’ve already got.

Overall, it was an interesting auction from JSK. A lot of the picks looked great individually, picking up plenty of high potential players, at reasonable prices but it doesn’t necessarily add up to the quality of XI that it should do, owing to a couple of structural flaws.

Having said that, there’s plenty of talent in the squad and they’re certainly capable of playing some exciting cricket. In particular, I’m looking forward to seeing their pace attack in action, headlined by Alzarri Joseph, who has enjoyed an excellent 12 months or so in t20 cricket. Beyond that, they also have exciting South African talents like Coetzee and Burger, the former is capable of reaching speeds in the mid 150’s. Lizaad Williams also provides great depth for when rotation is needed, which it will be, considering the group stages are crammed into 21 days of actual cricket.

Possible XI:

It’s an XI that looks well-suited to playing at their home venue but they could run into more trouble in their away matches. Most of the XI has a strong preference for hitting pace, with Leus du Plooy perhaps being the major exception to that, though Faf and Hendricks have shown signs of becoming more well-rounded players of spin in recent times.

Much like the Durban team, you’d say JSK also have three players that prefer to open in their top three, with Faf, Malan and Hendricks. In their t20 careers, both Malan and Hendricks have opened in well over 80% of their innings’ (Malan 96%), while Faf is much lower (42%), it has been his preferred position in recent times, opening in around 75% of his t20 matches since the start of 2020.

For me, Malan has to open, he has shown limitations against spin throughout his career, over quite a large sample size, so he’s best best suited to operating in the powerplay. I’d go with Faf as his partner, I feel he’s slightly more dynamic and is more capable of utilising the powerplay but they could go with either option.

Whatever happens, JSK will be hoping that these three can have the same level of success that they did individually in the Mzansi Super League a few years back. Hendricks and Malan were the top two scorers across the two seasons and Faf was 6th, while all three averaged 35+ and struck in the mid 130’s or higher. If they can replicate that, JSK will have a very strong top order.

Maheesh Theekshana looks like an excellent pick as one of their pre-auction signings. Given the difficulties spinners generally face at Joburg, having a spinner of his style and calibre should give them a big edge. It’ll be a big loss for JSK in the few games where he isn’t available. It wouldn’t surprise me if Phangiso comes in as a replacement and JSK go in with three overseas players.

Team strengths:

• Lower order hitting/batting depth - JSK have Donavon Ferreira - one of the most promising ‘finishers’ in the country and then Shepherd at 7, who is a very good hitter of pace. This alone, is a decent amount of quality for the later overs but after that they still have Coetzee and Joseph to come, who are both capable hitters against pace later on. Coetzee struck at over 200 in the recent CSA T20 season, though he only faced 41 deliveries in the tournament.
• Pace attack - JSK are in the rare position of having three pace bowlers that are capable of pushing speeds in the high 140's/low 150’s. That sort of pace can cause issues in any conditions, meaning that JSK will be able to maintain a constant wicket-taking threat with the ball.
• Suited to home venue - With good batting depth, plenty of high pace options and a quality spinner, who can bowl in multiple phases, JSK are about as prepared as you can be to play their home matches at a high-scoring venue.
• Top order - It’s just a solid top order that should do very well in South African conditions, it’s maybe not the most dynamic in the tournament but it should be one of the most consistent. Reeza Hendricks had been on a golden run in 2022 but hasn’t played a t20 for a few months, after warming the bench in the T20 WC, it’ll be interesting to see what level he’s at in this tournament.

Team weaknesses:

• RH heavy batting - There’s only likely to be one LHB in the XI (Leus du Plooy), which could cause issues, particularly in some of their away games. It isn’t like they have a plethora of options in the squad either, with Neil Brand and George Garton as the only other LHB’s in the squad, neither of whom are likely to be regular starters.
• Bowling depth - Romario Shepherd is the fifth bowler in the XI and he isn’t necessarily a bowler you can guarantee four overs from. Ideally, you’d want at least one quality in the option in the top six to cover for that and JSK don’t really have that. Hendricks and Du Plooy are capable of bowling some part-time SLA/Off-spin but it could be tricky to get through overs from those two in a higher level competition.
• Slow starters? - There aren’t too many fluent starters in the JSK XI, which could be problematic at a high scoring venue like Johannesburg. JSK will be hoping that Faf can continue starting his innings positively, like he did in the recent BBL, where he struck at 145 in his first ten deliveries.
• Struggles away from home - Much like the other team under the ‘Super Kings umbrella’, JSK look to be far more suited to playing at home. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing but could be seen as a bit more risky in a ten game tournament, rather than a fourteen game one.

Player stats sheet:

Batting:

• Faf has done well against spin recently. Since the start of the Hundred, he’s scored 300 runs, from 185 deliveries, with only five dismissals. Impressive numbers and a big improvement based on previous numbers, in the 18 months or so prior to the Hundred, he struck at under 120 vs spin. Sustainable?
• That golden run that I talked about for Reeza Hendricks, includes scoring 963 runs in his last twenty t20 innings, averaging over 50 and striking in the high 140’s, though all of these innings came as an opener. Can he adapt to the number 3 role if he bats there for JSK?

Bowling:

• Powerplay bowling looks to be another potential issue for JSK, it’s not really the preferred phase for any of their main pace bowlers. This makes the role of Theekshana even more crucial.
• Based on numbers alone, Garton looks to be quite an underwhelming signing. However, at base price, I think it was a worthwhile gamble. He has good new ball threat and is also a useful batting option, especially against spin.

Domestic:

Summary

There’s certainly a few flaws in the JSK squad but the overall trend is positive and they look to be a better side than a few in the tournament. Missing Theekshana for the first few games of the season will be a big blow, particularly now that they don’t have any other wrist/mystery options in the squad, due to the injury of Caleb Seleka.

Winning their home matches will obviously be key to their success. If they can do that, they should be right up there. It’s a shame that Harry Brook won’t be available for this tournament but it provides an opportunity for Donavon Ferreira to step into the limelight and really put his name forward for further t20 honours. The numbers suggest he’s capable of doing that.

The pace attack is really exciting and potentially one of the quickest we’ve seen in franchise cricket, in terms of average ball speed.

MI Cape Town

Coach - Simon Katich

Captain - Rashid Khan

Squad:

Screenshot from MI Cape Town twitter account

Changes from the above squad:

• Jofra Archer added as a wildcard player.

Availability issues:

• Liam Livingstone - Recovering from an injury, though the timeline is relatively unknown, he doesn’t seem to have travelled to Cape Town yet.
• Jofra Archer - As far as I know, ECB are only allowing him to feature in two games during the SA20, that could be subject to change, depending on his fitness status.
• Olly Stone - In the test squad to face New Zealand, which could impact is availability for the knockout stages.

Pre-auction signings - Rashid Khan, Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran, KG Rabada & Dewald Brevis.

MI Cape Town undoubtedly had the strongest group of players after making their pre-auction signings and they only strengthened on that with the work they did at the auction. Their headline signing on the day was probably Rassie van der Dussen but they also picked up some good deals for the likes of Odean Smith, Olly Stone, Delano Potgieter, Duan Jansen and Wesley Marshall.

It’s an ominous looking squad for the rest of the competition, with plenty of strength in-depth, as well as plenty of players that help with team balance. The likes of Brevis, Livingstone, Linde, Rashid Khan and Duan Jansencan offer something with bat and ball, while also being able to get into the side on the basis of their first choice discipline alone.

The availability status of Livingstone is relatively unknown but he wasn’t named in the ODI squad to face South Africa, which you’d assume would mean he won’t be available until late January/early February, if at all. MI haven’t yet named a partial or full replacement so we’ll have to see what happens there.

Possible XI:

They aren’t the easiest XI to predict, because of the uncertain availability of a few players. If they were at full strength, this would be the likely XI:

The chances of these 11 players featuring in the same team seems slim, even if Livingstone is available for part of the tournament, as the two games Archer will play are likely to occur before the ODI series against England.

With the England duo unlikely to be available for large parts of the season, this is the base XI I’d expect MI to have in most games:

Archer would obviously bat higher up in the games where he’s available. It’s an XI that features plenty of bowling options, with arguably six frontline options, as well as Brevis and Odean Smith as more part-time options. MI look to have built an XI that should suit Odean Smith nicely, where they won’t necessarily require many overs from him and there’s plenty of batting ability to come after him, allowing him to play an aggressive style of cricket.

The batting order should be flexible and the LHB’s (Curran and Linde) will likely float up and down the order, depending on the situation. The batting depth is impressive, with Duan Jansen or Rashid Khan likely to be carded at 9, both of whom have career boundary percentages of over 18%.

Amongst all the chaos, there’s Rassie van der Dussen - a reliable middle order batter, it’ll be interesting to see how he plays in this team. He’s generally a slow starter, which might not be the worst thing considering all the attacking players around him, though they won’t want him to soak up too many deliveries, given the powerful hitters to come after him.

It’s an XI that’s tilted more towards bowling quality currently, so it wouldn’t surprise me if they’re working on signing an overseas batter behind the scenes as a partial or full replacement for Livingstone. It’s probably the missing piece to the puzzle currently.

Team strengths:

• Squad quality/bench strength - The overall quality of the squad is impressive and not just the starting XI. With options such as Roelofsen, Potgieter, B Hendricks and one of Stone/Smith potentially on the bench at times, MI have great options to bring into the XI, if one of the regular starters is struggling for form.
• Bowling options - As mentioned earlier, MI have six frontline bowling options - four pace bowlers (Two LA/Two RA) and two spinners (Leg spin & SLA), as well as the extra leg spin option of Brevis and the high pace option of Odean Smith. This should allow MI to be extremely adaptable with the ball and they look like a team that will compete at home and away from home, which can’t be said for all of the teams in the competition.
• Batting depth - Had every player been available, the level of batting depth would’ve almost been unheard of, with KG Rabada likely to come in at XI, who is capable of finding the boundary himself. As it stands, there’s still more than enough depth and multiple players that are capable of playing cameo’s lower down the order.
• LH/RH combinations - The flexibility of the LHB’s in the batting order should allow MI to regular have LH/RH combinations at the crease, which will help to counter SLA in particular, which both Curran and Linde have shown evidence of being able to counter, albeit a small sample size.

Team weaknesses:

• A frontline batter light? - If they don’t get a replacement in for Livingstone, they certainly look to be a frontline batter light. It’ll be somewhat covered by impressive batting depth, however, I’d definitely prefer to have another middle order batter in the XI.
• Potentially weak opening batters - Rickelton and Marshall aren’t bad players by any means, though neither are certainties in t20’s, particularly Rickelton who has a t20 career average of 22 and strike rate of 125, while Marshall is a volatile player. Both are capable of producing good campaigns but relative to the rest of the team, it looks like a weaker area for MI Cape Town.

Player stats sheet:

Batting:

• In terms of starting strike rates, Van der Dussen is a clear anomaly, compared to the rest of the team. His acceleration at the death is very impressive but he takes a while to get set. Will he have a set role in the side or will MI show flexibility in that regard?
• Hopefully Curran is used up the order, he’s very good at taking on his spin matchup and the same could be said for Linde. They’re more valuable through the middle, saving someone like Odean Smith to target pace later on.

Bowling:

• Attention will be on Sam Curran, after his recent big money deal in the IPL. His death overs economy rate has been excellent for England of late, going at 7.76 rpo in 2022, which is significantly better than his career average. He was definitely helped by the bigger grounds in Australia, can he have the same success at smaller venues in South Africa?
• This tournament will be a good opportunity for Olly Stone, who doesn’t have the most impressive career numbers. However, he did well in the recent t20 Blast season, taking 13 wickets, while going at under 8rpo and bowling at high pace. Impressive, considering how high-scoring the Birmingham games were in the 2022 Blast.

Domestic:

• Wesley Marshall has a first 10 balls SR of over 150 in recent CSA T20 seasons, he’s easily one of the most aggressive openers in the country. There’s no doubt he’ll adopt a similar approach in this tournament, he’ll be fun to watch if he gets going.

Summary

Overall, I do think MI Cape Town are the strongest team in the tournament. However, they probably aren’t as convincing as they would’ve been, had Livingstone been fully available. If that was the case, I’d have seen them as clear favourites to win the tournament.

Opposing teams will see their top order as a potential weakness and should look to aggressively front-load their main bowlers against them, leaving matchup/fifth bowler overs until later in the innings.

The bowling is stacked with variety and quality, it’s an attack that looks like the best in the tournament and can only be rivalled by Pretoria and they’re likely to have a couple of availability issues throughout the tournament. Rotation shouldn’t be an issue for them either, as there’s plenty of options in the squad that they can bring in, a potentially important factor, considering the short & sharp nature of the season.

I think you’d be brave to bet against this MI Cape Town side winning the inaugural SA20 season, though with a straight semi-final format, anything can happen.

Paarl Royals

Coach - JP Duminy

Captain - David Miller

Squad:

Screenshot from Paarl Royals twitter account

Changes from the above squad:

• Obed McCoy has been ruled out through injury, Paarl are yet to announce a replacement.
• Andile Phehlukwayo added as a wildcard players

Availability issues:

As far as I can tell, Paarl doesn’t look to have any major availability issues, apart from Obed McCoy.

Pre-auction signings - Jos Buttler, Obed McCoy, David Miller & Corbin Bosch.

Losing Obed McCoy will be a big blow for a number of reasons. Firstly, he’s a quality bowler, that’s had a good 18–24 months in the shortest format. Secondly, his role of being a more middle/death overs orientated bowler isn’t something that’s easily replaceable. Lastly, Paarl were one of the teams that didn’t maximise their overseas quota at the auction, opting to pick only five overseas players. With McCoy now ruled out of the entire tournament, it leaves Paarl with only four overseas players and they might struggle to find a quality replacement, given the amount of t20 cricket that’s currently taking place, the overseas player market looks relatively lean.

Recruiting players from the BBL (like ILT20 teams are doing) isn’t really an option for SA20 teams because the schedule is more front-loaded, due to the South Africa/England ODI series that takes place partway through the season.

The strategy to only pick five overseas players was an interesting one and one that I don’t necessarily agree with, though I’m sure they had their reasons for doing so.

Evan Jones looks to be one of the best picks they made at the auction and is a player with high upside. Tabraiz Shamsi and Lungi Ngidi were also good value picks, considering the prices of some of the other domestic players like Jansen, Magala, Rossouw etc.

Possible XI:

On paper, it looks like a reasonably strong XI, with a couple of star batters (Buttler & Miller) and a well-rounded bowling unit, featuring some of the better white ball bowlers in South Africa. Having Evan Jones at number 7, a man mountain of an all-rounder, gives the side a nice balance and ensures they aren’t too heavily tilted towards either a batting-heavy or bowling-heavy balance.

One of the biggest concerns ahead of the season for Paarl will be the recent performances of Jason Roy, who has really struggled in the last six months or so. Roy has never been immune to indifferent periods of form, however, the last few months has been particularly scratchy and unconvincing, which ultimately led to him being dropped from the England T20 side ahead of the T20 WC. In total, Roy has managed only 127 runs in his last 12 t20 innings, striking at just 85. He didn’t have a great t10 tournament either, striking at under 150 in the four games he played (average was 170). Roy, with a point to prove could be dangerous but he could also continue along a similar path to what we’ve seen recently. It was a calculated gamble from Paarl and I think it was worthwhile, getting him for 1.5m ZAR, which was less than 5% of the overall purse.

It’s quite an experienced XI, particularly on the batting front - five of the top 6 have over 200 t20 appearances, adding up to 1615 between them. That should add a bit of value, especially in the middle overs, when it comes to pacing their innings.

With only four overseas players available currently, most of the players in the XI should be locks. The only potential debate could be whether they play a domestic bowler, instead of Simmonds, considering that Simmonds was with the Barbados Royals and performed reasonably well, I’d expect him to get a run in the side first. Phehlukwayo or Codi Yusuf would be the likely domestic replacements if Simmonds struggles but you’d assume that Paarl will be looking to sign an overseas replacement for McCoy.

Wihan Lubbe and Mitchell Van Buuren are capable domestic batters that provide decent backup options to the incumbents in the XI.

Team strengths:

• Jos Buttler - Good at cricket.
• Middle order - A middle order of Vilas and Miller is nice, both are quite well-rounded and good players of spin, who can accelerate through the innings (more so Miller). They’re also good strike rotators, boasting non-boundary strike rates of above 75, it should be a partnership that works well together.
• Death overs hitting - They aren’t necessarily stacked with batting depth, or even quality lower order hitting. However, the threat of some of their top order players, such as Buttler and Miller batting through remains and both can do some serious damage at the death. Morgan is also still a reasonable hitter of pace and had an okay t10 tournament, while Evan Jones is also a clean ball striker.
• Ability against spin - There’s plenty of good players on spin in their batting line up. Miller and Vilas have already been mentioned, both of whom strike at over 135 against spin. Buttler is also a quality player of spin and has arguably gotten even better in this regard over the last couple of years, especially against wrist spin and is able to hit over the top by using his feet, as well as generating incredible power/timing off the back foot.
• Spin attack - Paarl have the luxury of having frontline spin options that can take the ball away from LHB and RHB’s, something that isn’t particularly common, with one leg spinner and one SLA bowler being the typical spin partnership we often see in t20's.

Team weaknesses:

• Death overs bowling - In the absence of McCoy, this looks to be a major issue for Paarl. A lot has been made of Ngidi’ skills in this area, owing to his slower ball improvements, however, he’s still been expensive at the death this year, albeit in a brief sample size. I expect he’ll be their main guy in this phase, probably bowling two in the powerplay and two at the death.
• Potentially scratchy batting depth - If a couple of the players that have been ‘out of form’ continue on the same level then it does leave them looking a little reliant on Buttler and Miller. Those two are certainly capable of producing the goods, ideally, you’d probably want at least one more ‘banker’ in the batting line up.
• Fifth bowler issues - Paarl will need at least four overs out of Corbin Bosch and Evan Jones each game, which could prove to be an issue. Jones definitely has the tools to become a useful t20 bowler through the middle, with high pace/hard lengths but it’ll be a step up in quality on the t20 cricket he’s played thus far. Corbin Bosch is more hittable and you wouldn’t want him bowling many overs per game.

Player stats sheet:

Batting:

• Vilas is excellent through the middle overs, but his returns tail off towards the end of an innings. Should be the first batter to come in outside of the powerplay.
• The Royals ‘ecosystem’ has worked hard with Corbin Bosch, taking him to the IPL, then CPL and now a pre-auction pick for Paarl. There’s clearly something they like about him, though his t20 numbers have been underwhelming thus far, his list A record is very good (AV 40, SR 103), could it be a breakout tournament for him?

Bowling:

• It’s a big tournament for Ngidi. He’s very much the frontline pace bowler here, a responsibility that he probably hasn’t had in his t20 career thus far. Paarl will need him to produce the goods.
• Imran Manack is a good off-spin bowler, if Paarl wanted to get an extra spinner into the side. Which could be a viable option with some bigger square boundaries at Paarl.

Domestic:

Summary

Overall, I do like the squad that Paarl Royals have assembled but losing Obed McCoy certainly makes them worse and if they want to compete for the title, you’d think that they’d need to sign a replacement, or at least a partial one. You can’t go through a full season with only four overseas players throughout.

I’m also left with the feeling of what could’ve been with this team, their pre-auction picks were good and they started well at the auction, picking up Shamsi and Ngidi early on. After that, it was less convincing and they probably didn’t fully capitalise on the position they found themselves in. Nevertheless, they’re still a good side and I’d expect them to make the play-offs quite comfortably.

Pretoria Capitals

Coach - Graham Ford

Captain - Wayne Parnell

Squad:

Screenshot from Pretoria Capitals twitter account

Changes from the above squad:

• Senuran Muthusamy added as a wildcard player.

Availability issues:

• Josh Little - Scheduled to be playing in the Ireland ODI series vs Zimbabwe (Jan 18th-23rd) and will likeley miss five games as a result.
• Kusal Mendis - Will be a late arrival due to the ODI series against India, will miss their first two fixtures.
• Will Jacks - In the England test squad for the New Zealand tour, starting on the 16th February. With the SA20 final on the 11th, Jacks’ availability for that could be 50/50, if Pretoria make it that far.

Pre-auction signings - Anrich Nortje and Migael Pretorius

Josh Little missing that many games would be a bit of a shame, he’s likely to play a crucial role for Pretoria, offering new ball threat and then utilising his pace well during the later overs.

Senuran Muthusamy was a wise pick for their wildcard, they definitely needed a SLA bowler in the squad and he’s been one of the more reliable options in domestic cricket, he can also contribute with the bat and played some handy knocks in 50 over cricket this season. He’d likely be more of an option for away matches, as orthodox spin tends to go the distance at Centurion Park.

Pretoria were one of only two sides that only made two pre-auction signings, leaving them with a lot of work to do at the auction. They were boosted by the services of cricviz, who announced an analytics partnership with Pretoria, helping them from the retention phase onwards.

I liked a lot of the picks that were made and Pretoria have ended up with a good squad, with plenty of bowling options, perhaps one or two too many, considering both of their pre-auction signings were also bowlers, though Pretorius does add some batting value.

The batting does look a little light, especially the middle/lower order, depending on their overseas balance, however, the recent performances of Theunis de Bruyn should offer some encouragement that can provide support for a powerful top order. It’s likely to be an overseas opening partnership of Salt and Jacks, who were both picked up at very reasonable prices, especially Jacks, who was one of the best value picks at the auction in my opinion. Those two, along with Rossouw will be crucial to the chances of Pretoria this season, the bowling should be good regardless.

It’ll be interesting to see how Pretoria utilises Rossouw, he had a lot of success batting at 3 for Somerset in the t20 Blast and then for South Africa prior/during the t20 WC. However, he has looked vulnerable against the new ball more recently, resulting in 10 single figure scores in his last 20 t20 innings. In that same time period his average inside the first four overs has been 7.5 (dismissed 11 times in 74 deliveries). It’s worth noting that his overall numbers haven’t been that bad in this period, averaging 23.5, while striking at 144 but with batting depth looking like an issue, Pretoria could benefit from a more consistent version of Rossouw, hence keeping him away from the new ball might not be the worst idea.

Possible XI:

A bowling-heavy balance seems very likely for Pretoria, with Parnell carded at 7, though Pretorius could come in ahead of him if he’s in the XI. Despite being a pre-auction signing, I’m not necessarily sure that Pretorius will be a certain starter.

He’s leaked runs in the last two CSA T20 seasons, going at over 9 rpo and it’s been a similar story in the CPL, where he’s gone at 9.4 rpo across the last two seasons, struggling to bowl in either of the crucial phases. Keeping in mind that these two competitions have been some of the most bowling-friendly, those returns are particularly poor. His batting is handy - hitting a six every 12 deliveries in his t20 career but the primary factor for this role in the team has to be the ability to get through four overs with the ball and is Pretorius the best player to do that? It wouldn’t surprise me if Pretorius starts but Dupavillon or Eathan Bosch could be better options for this role.

The other selection debate would be over Marais and Dadswell at number 6. It looks to be a 50/50 call and without knowing too much about either, I can’t really comment on who would be the best option. Both have good numbers in lower level competitions but have perhaps struggled to step up to top level domestic cricket in South Africa.

When Little departs, you’d assume Neesham will come into the XI and it’ll be an all domestic pace attack:

Muthusamy remains an option and I’d expect he’ll feature in at least two or three of the away matches and could maintain his place in the XI if he performs well in these games.

I’m also interested to see how Delport goes. At his best, he was a hard-hitting top order player, striking in the mid 140’s from 2017–19. His returns have dropped off since then, is it from a lack of opportunities or age-related decline? I’d expect a bit of both, though his opportunities have definitely dropped off since the Kolpak loophole became redundant in England, meaning overseas players couldn’t feature as domestic players, which was something Delport frequently did. Between 2017–19, he played over 100 t20 innings, since then, that’s dropped to under 50.

If he can get back to something of his best, Pretoria will be onto a winner. In the Mzansi Super League (two seasons), Delport struck at 164, which was only bettered by Quinton de Kock, of the batters that faced at least 100 deliveries.

Team strengths:

• Powerplay bowling - With Parnell and Little, Pretoria have two quality left arm pace bowlers that can utilise the new ball in the powerplay. Then Nortje can be used to close out powerplay’s, something he’s had success doing, going at roughly 7rpo in overs 5 & 6 since the start of 2020 (30 over sample size).
• Powerful top order - Three of the top four have boundary percentages of over 20% and Delport isn’t far behind at 18%. The Pretoria top order looks to be the most destructive in the tournament. Jacks and Salt have had indifferent returns in overseas t20 leagues thus far but I think they’re more than ready to step up, hopefully this will be the tournament where they explode.
• LH/RH combinations - Especially when Neesham plays, Pretoria will have the option to maintain LH/RH combo’s throughout their innings.
• Bowling depth - The starting quality is impressive, with two top end t20 bowlers (Nortje & Little), as well as a useful phase bowler (Parnell). Beyond that, they still have options like Dupavillon, Bosch and Pretorius as rotational players. Jacks can also provide a decent part-time spin option and Von Berg gives them a domestic wrist spin option, in case they wanted to do something funky with their overseas balance.

Team weaknesses:

• Batting depth - Parnell at 7 is far from ideal and even if Pretorius plays, the batting still looks a little light, with an unconvincing middle order. They really need at least one of their domestic middle order players to step up. Pretoria went hard for Donavon Ferreira at the auction and right now, they probably wished they had him.
• Lacking quality spin options - The XI is likely to have one frontline spinner - Adil Rashid, he’s certainly a good spinner but perhaps a level below some of the other frontline spin options in the competition. Rashid also concedes sixes quite regularly for a wrist spinner, which could be an issue in Pretoria.
• Conflict between batting approach and batting lineup? - The top order players for Pretoria are naturally aggressive, with a lack of batting quality through the middle order and limited depth, could they be forced to adopt a more cautious approach?

Player stats sheet:

Batting:

• It’s a top order that should provide plenty of fireworks at a batting-friendly home venue. Something that all of them should be used to, having played plenty of t20 matches in England.
• Neesham could be a player that’s well-suited to this competition, with pace on the ball and an abundance of SLA bowling, he should do well when he gets the opportunity to play.

Bowling:

• Little and Nortje both provide multi-phase ability, having two bowlers that can offer genuine quality across phases is quite rare and should give Pretoria an advantage.
• Jacks can be a very useful matchup option and has also bowled well to RHB’s, especially in the powerplay. I don’t think he’ll be used much in that role, given they have Parnell/Little for new ball threat but don’t be surprised if he bowls a couple through the middle

Domestic:

Summary

Pretoria will probably fancy their chances of being successful this season and who can blame them with the bowling attack they’ve assembled. It has quality and there’s plenty of options that they can bring into the XI, if needed.

The batting is a much bigger concern for me, the top order simply has to fire, with a relatively weak middle order compared to their closest rivals and very limited batting depth. It’s an XI that feels a bit like the Rajasthan Royals one in the last season, with a quality group of core players but possibly a few balance issues, while carrying a couple of players in their XI. Can any of the top order be their Jos Buttler?

Expect them to comfortably make the play-offs but I don’t think they’re the best team in the competition.

Sunrisers Eastern Cape

Coach - Adrian Birrell

Captain - Aiden Markram

Squad:

Changes from the above squad:

• Jordan Hermann added as a wildcard player.

Availability issues:

• Tom Abell - Named in both red ball and white ball England Lion’s squads for the tour of Sri Lanka, which starts with a tour match on 25th January. Abell will probably only be available for the first 5–6 matches of the season.

Pre-auction signings - Aiden Markram & Ottneil Baartman.

Jordan Hermann as the wildcard pick was a good move, giving them a much needed LH option. And even though I don’t think he’s a ready made t20 player yet, he could be one in the future and has shown promise in other formats this season.

Once again, coming into the auction with only two players wasn’t ideal and left them with a lot of work to do. Although they had a big budget, they spent the majority of their money on three players - Stubbs, Jansen and Magala. The first two were sort of expected, though 9.2m ZAR (27% of overall purse) felt a little extreme, even for Stubbs but buying Magala for such a high price, surprised basically everyone. He’s a player with nice upside, that can bowl at decent pace, has a good yorker and provides some lower order hitting, however, 5.4m ZAR feels like way too much.

Spending over 20m ZAR in these three left them scrambling for players and they’d basically sacrificed their ability to sign high quality overseas players, by going so hard for the domestic players they bought early on. Although some decent overseas players were recruited, there’s a noticeable drop off in quality from almost every other team in the tournament.

Possible XI:

For me, the Sunrisers are the most difficult XI to predict. In my opinion, there’s only six definite starters, the rest is all debatable:

I expect Cox to be a guaranteed starter, though his role in the XI won’t necessarily be fixed to the number 3 spot.

The ‘number 7’ spot will be occupied by one of Fuller or Carse. Carse is perhaps the more well-known, having featured for England in a few ODI matches, though it should probably be Fuller that gets given the nod. He’s had an impressive 2022, especially with the ball, going at under 8rpo, which is a vast improvement on what he’d managed previously. I’m not sure what’s sparked such a rise in performance levels but he’s certainly bowling well and reaching speeds in excess of 140+.

The ‘number 10’ spot should go to a spinner, meaning it’s between Mason Crane or Van der Merwe as an overseas option, or Junaid Dawood as a domestic option. Van der Merwe shouldn’t be considered if Smuts is in the XI, as they’d already have a SLA option. Leaving the two wrist spinners - Crane and Dawood. My thought process on this is fairly clear, I’d go with Dawood. I don’t think Crane adds enough to justify picking him as an overseas player. His struggles have been obvious in 2022, going at 9.5 rpo (65 over sample size), which is particularly poor given he plays his home blast matches at the Ageas Bowl - one of the bigger grounds in the country. Crane certainly has talent but that shouldn’t be enough to get him into the XI.

With the bowling sorted, it leaves three batting slots:

There’s plenty of options for these roles including Rossington, Smuts, Hermann, Ackermann, Erwee and Abell competing for the three spots.

For me, Abell is the only player here with genuine quality in t20’s, forging a relatively successful career in the difficult middle order role, he’d slot in at 5, giving them another well-rounded player through the middle.

With two opening slots left to pick and one overseas slot available, Rossington seems like a guaranteed starter. He’s very much a powerplay basher but is quite one dimensional and hasn’t averaged more than 25 since the T20 Blast in 2017.

His opening partner should be JJ Smuts in my view, not necessarily because he’s clear of the rest but he can provide a solid SLA bowling option, something they lack in the XI and they won’t lose out on much, in terms of batting quality by picking him:

When Abell leaves, Cox could slide down the order and one of the LHB’s (Hermann/Erwee/Ackermann) could be brought into the XI.

Team strengths:

• Middle order - A middle order of Cox, Makram, Abell and Stubbs is fairly impressive. The only obvious flaw with this would be that they’re all RHB’s, which will be more of an issue in terms of boundary sizes, rather than struggling against spin. Cox, Markram and Abell are all secure against spin, while scoring relatively quickly. All three can also accelerate well at the death and Stubbs is obviously the icing on the cake in that regard, with his clean striking.
• Strike rotation - Another strength of the middle order is their rotation of strike. Markram, Cox and Abell all have non-boundary strike rates of over 70, with Cox and Abell above 80, this trio could run teams ragged through the middle, while also possessing boundary-hitting abilities. It could be a frustrating combination for opposition sides.
• Middle/death overs bowling - They’ve got pace bowlers that are well-suited to this phase, as well as multiple spin options, assuming they go with the XI that I’m expecting. Fuller has been bowling very well through the middle and Baartman/Magala are both capable death overs bowlers, though it’ll be interesting to see how they do in a slightly higher level competition.

Team weaknesses:

• Overseas quality - Relative to the rest of the league, especially some of the stronger teams, the overseas quality that the Sunrisers have at their disposal looks incredibly weak. When teams are shelling out to get high quality overseas players like Rashid Khan, S Curran, Alzarri, Theekshana, Buttler, Little, Jacks, Salt & Holder, ending up with the overseas options that the Sunrisers have is a particularly poor effort.
• RH heavy batting order - One of the more obvious ones, their potential XI isn’t certain to have one LHB. It’s a blatant structural flaw that could’ve been easily avoided, however, I’d rather they went into the tournament with no LHB’s, rather than playing one for the sake of it.
• Lack of quality spin - If Pretoria are lacking quality spin options then I’m not sure what’s going on with the Sunrisers. They’ve at least got some decent matchup bowlers in their top 6 because their wrist spin options look very weak, considering the standard of this competition.
• Unconvincing opening partnership - Where many teams have international level; potentially world class opening batters, the Sunrisers just don’t have that level of quality. Smuts/Rossington doesn’t really compare to Buttler/Roy or Jacks/Salt.

Player stats sheet:

Batting:

• Abell is great against spin, particularly wrist spin and can play a variety of sweep shots, as well as rotating strike impressively. Against non-spin, he likes to use the pace on the ball and is quite productive while playing the scoop/slog sweep.
• Stubbs has a lot to live up to, with Sunrisers spending 27% of their total purse to get him. If they use him in a rigid role, purely as a ‘finisher’, they won’t get value for money. Should be promoted up the order, if there’s an opportunity to do so.

Bowling:

• Brydon Carse has had success for England in ODI cricket but has struggled with the ball in t20’s, despite playing his home matches at the biggest venues in England (Durham). Fuller should start ahead of him.
• Powerplay bowling could be a concern, with no overseas players that operate particularly well in that phase, they’ll be relying on their domestic bowlers.

Domestic:

Summary

Overall, I’m not a huge fan of the squad that the Sunrisers have put together. Having a strong domestic core is important but probably not the extent that the Sunrisers have gone to, whereby they’ve dramatically weakened the quality of the overseas players, compared to other teams in the tournament.

Having said that, Cox and Abell are two players I like and I hope they can have good tournaments. Along with Markram and Stubbs, those four will provide the backbone for this batting unit and should be quite effective when it comes to chasing targets.

The bowling isn’t perfect, with weak wrist spin options but I like the fact there’s reliable matchup options among the top 6 batters, which allows them to also pick four pace bowlers in the XI. That’s quite an aggressive approach and it should give them a consistent wicket-taking threat throughout the innings.

I wouldn’t feel confident in predicting a play-off place finish for the Sunrisers, though it’s definitely plausible, with four out of six teams reaching that stage.

Thanks for reading!

Stats: cricmetric/cricinfo

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