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THE MAIN MEN MAKING THE BALL TALK

11 Jun 20243 mins

The fate of bowlers in T20 cricket is the talk of the cricketing world at the moment with them having suffered during the Indian Premier League but getting their own back during the ongoing ICC Men's T20 World Cup. Of course, Betway SA20 has proven to be a more even battle between bat and ball and the latter - the leading wicket-takers - is our focus in this edition of Trivia Tuesday.

Consistency, of course, will always be the name of the game when it comes to 'all-time' lists which is why it shouldn't be a surprise that the top two wicket-takers in SA20 are from back-to-back champions Sunrisers Eastern Cape.

Marco Jansen overtook Ottniel Baartman to top the Season 2 wickets list thanks to his five-for in the Final against Durban's Super Giants but it is the 'Oudtshoorn Express' who tops the two-season count, with his 12 wickets in the inaugural season being followed by 18 in the last campaign - two wickets better off than Jansen's 28-wicket tally. That improvement reiterated why Baartman claimed the Bowler of the Season trophy and has found his way straight into the Proteas playing XI at the T20 World Cup. Jansen (24), for his part, was the deserved Rising Star award winner for Season 2 - not least for topping the wickets charts with 20 scalps.

Third place, interestingly, belongs to Pretoria Capitals captain Wayne Parnell who sits on 24 wickets overall. But for injury keeping him out of a few matches in both seasons, the left-armer may even have more. Lungi Ngidi, who joins him on 24, could say the same as injury befell the Paarl Royals quick just the wrong stage of Season 2, in playoffs week.

Durban's Super Giants tall left-arm quick, Reece Topley sits alone in fifth place with 23 scalps to his name and he is followed in sixth place by fellow Englishman, Adil Rashid. The experienced Capitals leg-spinner's count of 22 wickets makes him the leading spin bowler in SA20's history.

Another Sky Blues player emerges in seventh place, Season 1's Rising Star award winner Eathan Bosch. He sits on 21 wickets.

That number places him one ahead of five bowlers on 20 wickets apiece.

Roelof van der Merwe (Sunrisers Eastern Cape) and Anrich Nortje (Pretoria Capitals) managed those in Season 1 alone to emerge as joint-highest wicket-takers in the inaugural season of South Africa's premier T20 cricket league. The former, who was named as Bowler of the Season for his exploits, skipped Season 2 while Nortje suffered an ill-timed injury at the end of 2023 and the Capitals sure missed his firepower during his recovery. 'Annas' also has by far the best economy rate of the top fast bowlers, going at only 6.18 - van der Merwe, incidentally, is the only bowler to have bettered that with 5.61.

WATCH NOW: Nortje blitzing batters during Season 1

Meanwhile, Bjorn Fortuin has been Royals' trump card at Boland Park, proving difficult to get away despite bowling in the power play (an economy rate of 6.80 proves that) and getting regular wickets as batters try take on his spinners.

Joburg Super Kings and MI Cape Town's leading wicket-takers, Lizaad Williams and Kagiso Rabada respectively, conclude the list of the top 12 wicket-takers across the two seasons of SA20.