MEET THE BETWAY SA20 EVER-PRESENTS

Betway SA20 may only be in its infancy two seasons in, but already a select group of 14 players remain have been ever-present in their teams' playing XIs.

By virtue of Sunrisers Eastern Cape having gone ‘all the way’ in both seasons to date, they have had the most matches in the competition, 24. That said, their Season 2 opener against Joburg Super Kings was completely rained out so they have only named 23 playing XIs.

Ever-present, unsurprisingly, in all 23 has been their triumphant captain Aiden Markram and the other player who has stood alongside ‘Sauce’ in every pre-match huddle is the League’s record Auction 1 buy, Tristan Stubbs.

The only other team that has handed in a teamsheet 23 times at the toss is Season 2 runners-up, Durban’s Super Giants. They only played the 10 group stage matches in the inaugural season, but had the full experience of the expanded playoffs in 2024 – losing Qualifier 1 against Sunrisers, before beating Joburg Super Kings in Qualifier 2 to set up a Final rematch against Sunrisers.

They too have two ever-presents, namely their Season 2 captain Keshav Maharaj and the League’s reigning Player of the Season, Heinrich Klaasen.

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Joburg Super Kings (due to their abandoned fixture against Sunrisers), Paarl Royals and Pretoria Capitals have got on the park in 22 SA20 matches.

JSK have three ever-presents in their captain Faf du Plessis, Reeza Hendricks and Donovan Ferreira – who much like Stubbs has batted, bowled and kept wicket for his team.

Royals’ three players who are yet to miss a match are the English opening pair of Jos Buttler and Jason Roy as well as Bjorn Fortuin, the spinner born and raised in Paarl.

Capitals, who were runners-up in Season 1 but missed the playoffs second time around with Rilee Rossouw and Eathan Bosch being permanent fixtures along the way. Bosch, the Season 1 Rising Star, is the only pace bowler yet to miss a match in SA20.

MI Cape Town, of course, are the only team to have missed out on the playoffs in both SA20 seasons, so the maximum matches available to any of their players has been 20. As it happens, Rassie van der Dussen and Dewald Brevis are the only two have been picked every time by both Simon Katich and his replacement as MICT head coach, Robin Peterson.

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At still only 20, Brevis is the youngest of the ever-presents but, as a batter, finds himself in a company of eight. Markram bowled very little in Sunrisers’ title defense but were he to be considered as an allrounder, he’d be the only one. Meanwhile, there are three bowlers in Bosch, Fortuin and Maharaj and three wicketkeepers in Buttler, Ferreira and Stubbs (the latter two based on the role they played most often in Season 2).

SA20 EVER-PRESENTS TO DATE

23 – Aiden Markram (Sunrisers Eastern Cape), Tristan Stubbs (Sunrisers Eastern Cape), Heinrich Klaasen (Durban’s Super Giants), Keshav Maharaj (Durban’s Super Giants)

22 – Faf du Plessis (Joburg Super Kings), Reeza Hendricks (Joburg Super Kings), Donovan Ferreira (Joburg Super Kings), Jos Buttler (Paarl Royals), Jason Roy (Paarl Royals), Bjorn Fortuin (Paarl Royals), Rilee Rossouw (Pretoria Capitals), Eathan Bosch (Pretoria Capitals)

20 – Rassie van der Dussen (MI Cape Town), Dewald Brevis (MI Cape Town)