December has already been a busy month for domestic T20 tournaments and a third one gets underway on Boxing Day when the SA20 2026 campaign begins with the six franchises back to battle it out for the title.
That was a title won for the first time by MI Cape Town last term and they will be looking to emulate the Sunrisers Eastern Cape in the maiden two seasons of the competition and make a successful defence of their crown.
Recent Winners
2025 – MI Cape Town
2024 – Sunrisers Eastern Cape
2023 – Sunrisers Eastern Cape
The Format
The six teams each play the other five home and away in the first part of the competition. The top four in the table then make it through to the playoffs which follows the IPL format rather than the two semi-finals this year. There are no hugely quirky rules for this tournament although captains will be allowed to name 13 men in their side before the toss before choosing which two players to discard after the toss has taken place. There is a bonus point available for teams who win with a run rate of 1.25 times the opposition.
The Teams
The MI Cape Town are the defending champions this time around and they are the 7/4 favourites to keep hold of the crown. They have kept much of their squad around but they weren’t helped by the withdrawal of Tabraiz Shamsi in the lead up to the event. The good thing for them is that they have players coming over from the ILT20 tournament so they are up to speed with the format, although they will need to adjust to the conditions. They have kept hold of their two lynchpins Rashid Khan and Nicholas Pooran so they do look like worthy favourites it must be said.
The Sunrisers Eastern Cape have a wonderful early record in this tournament having won it the first two years and lost out in the final when they attempted the three-peat and they are 9/2 to get their hands back on the trophy. There has been a big change at the helm this term though with Tristan Stubbs captain after the departure of Aiden Markram while they have lost three key bowlers from previous seasons but replaced them with much more batting firepower. They probably don’t look as strong as they have in previous campaigns but shouldn’t be ruled out.
We have a trio of 6/1 shots this year with the first of those being the underachieving Durban’s Super Giants, who will be hoping that by bringing the two-time winning captain of this competition Aiden Markram in they have found the magic formula. Durban have shed a lot of their power batting and opted for more cautious reliable players such as Devon Conway and David Bedingham to churn out the runs while Kwena Maphaka could be a good addition with the ball. They should have a better season than last term but that isn’t exactly hard.
There will be a lot of hype around the Pretoria Capitals this season. They have put together quite a fearsome bowling unit who should all enjoy the faster conditions on the Highveld. There is no shortage of batting power in the middle order either with Jordan Cox, Dewald Brevis and Sherfane Rutherford a fearsome combination in these conditions. One concern will be who opens the batting but if they sort that out then Pretoria should have a decent season under Keshav Maharaj.
Johannesburg Super Kings are the other 6/1 shots going into the tournament. With the experience that they have had in the past and the Super Kings name to carry it is a surprise that they haven’t gone better than they have in this competition but they have brought in a bit of batting depth and a couple of key overseas bowlers who are good at the back end of the innings so the tools are in place for Joburg to have a good season, although they will need their experienced players to show that the game hasn’t got too big for them now.
The outsiders of the pack are the Paarl Royals at 15/2. The Royals are a very strong unit at home and they have reinforced their bowling attack with the sort of bowlers that should see them go well there again but the concern will be whether those same bowlers can carry them on the road. There are a few big hitting batters in this squad though so expect low scoring games which the Royals will look to dominate in Paarl and then maybe for them to be involved in high scoring matches when they head off on their travels.
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Outright Betting
You can make a case for pretty much every team in this competition but the one I like is the Pretoria Capitals who have done some tidy work in the off-season and who should be ready to go big here. The two things you need on the Highveld is pace bowling and big hitting and they have both, especially if Andre Russell catches fire at any point in the tournament. It isn’t just about him though. Dewald Brevis is probably the best signing of the close season, especially as this is his home ground in normal cricket.
It is hard to see Pretoria being out of the top four with the bowling resources that they have at their disposal and the depth of middle order batting and then from there this tournament is there to be won for anyone but on any given day if Brevis, Russell, Jordan Cox, Shai Hope or Sherfane Rutherford come off then in South African conditions the Capitals are going to be tough to stop. I would probably have MI Cape Town as the favourites for but at more than three times the price it has to be the Capitals for me.
Top Tournament Batter
Whenever you bet on the top batter market you need to do some work to whittle the field down and look deep into the makeup of the competition to see if there are any advantages anywhere and in this tournament there are. You want to take batters in the Highveld where the ball flies further and the boundaries are small so sticking to Pretoria Capitals or Johannesburg Super Kings players should be the way forward here.
Dewald Brevis only had five batters in front of him last season and now that he has moved to SuperSport Park for his home matches I expect him to natural improve this season. SuperSport Park is one of the best batting pitches in world cricket with relatively short boundaries and the altitude allows the ball to fly even further than it normally would so as long as the South Africa international doesn’t get giddy I think he is the one to beat in this market.
Top Tournament Bowler
The same thing applies for the bowlers in this tournament as well and actually you wouldn’t really want to be on a bowler who is on one of those wickets at the Highveld because matches there don’t contain many wickets. Paarl wouldn’t be the worst place to have a top bowler because the pitches there are tricky to score on but it isn’t the worst thing in the world to be taking places from Kingsmead in Durban or Gqeberha and it is the latter where my selection plays.
Marco Jansen was the leading wicket taker in the tournament last year and given that he has had a decent tour of India in recent times his confidence should be very high. We are still early enough in the South African summer that the seamers should have something of an advantage and there aren’t many better in South Africa than Jansen. He is going to bowl at both ends of the innings where the cheap wickets come along so at 12/1 he looks a solid bet to me.
Tips
Back Pretoria Capitals to win SA20 2026 (e/w) for a 2/10 stake at 7.00 with Boylesports (1/3 1-2)
Back them here:
Back D.Brevis Top Tournament Batter (e/w) for a 1.5/10 stake at 10.00 with Bet365 (1/4 1-4)
Back M.Jansen Top Tournament Bowler (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 13.00 with Bet365 (1/4 1-4)
