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MI VS SUNRISERS RIVALRY ANEW AT THE HUNDRED 2026
The Hundred's sixth season gets under way at the Oval on 21 July, with defending champions MI London hosting Sunrisers Leeds.
On paper it's a fresh fixture between two rebranded English sides. In practice, it's a continuation of one of Betway SA20's fiercest rivalries - MI Cape Town versus Sunrisers Eastern Cape - now four years and nine meetings deep, transplanted onto an English ground under shared ownership.
Since SA20's launch in January 2023, MI Cape Town and Sunrisers Eastern Cape have met nine times, with Sunrisers holding a narrow 5-4 edge. The boys from Gqeberha swept both meetings in the inaugural 2023 season, then did it again in 2024, winning by a narrow four runs both times. The tide turned in 2025: MICT won all three encounters, including a 76-run victory in the Final at the Wanderers that delivered the franchise its maiden SA20 title and denied SEC a hat-trick of crowns. The most recent season split the difference, MICT winning the group meeting at Newlands before Sunrisers hit back to eliminate them from Playoffs contention – the boys in orange also went on to lift the 2025-26 title.
Several players who'll walk out at the Oval have already left their mark on this rivalry, not least Trent Boult. MI Cape Town's (and MI London’s) opening-and-death-overs specialist was named Player of the Match in that Season 3 Final with 2/9 off four overs, and backed it up with 3/28 in this year's meeting at Newlands.
Ryan Rickelton has had his say too, striking 58 off 33 balls against SEC in Season 2 (but his SA20 faithful will find it odd to see him in orange during The Hundred), and Rashid Khan has been a fixture with bat and ball for MI Cape Town throughout, even if a standout return specifically against Sunrisers Eastern Cape has so far eluded him.
Trent Boult will become the first player to turn out for all five MI teams and has been a regular performer in 'blue vs orange' Betway SA20 clashes
Of players featuring in The Hundred 2026 but not in today’s two teams, Marco Jansen has been the MI vs Sunrisers rivalry's most destructive all-rounder, smashing 66 off 27 balls with the bat in the very first meeting back in January 2023 and following up with 42 off 23 in this year's group match. Dewald Brevis, while still with MI Cape Town, played handy cameos in the rivalry's biggest moments - 57 off 29 balls in a January 2025 win and 38 off 18 in the Season 3 Final itself - though he's since moved on to Pretoria Capitals. Tristan Stubbs, now SEC's captain, and Jordan Cox, who featured for the franchise in that opening 2023 fixture before moving on, both add to the sense that this is a rivalry that has shaped careers on both sides of the world.
Sunrisers Eastern Cape star Marco Jansen has been a regular thorn in MI Cape Town's side in Betway SA20 clashes between the two teams
Four years, nine matches, one title decider - MI London versus Sunrisers Leeds arrives fresh but with history behind it already.
BETWAY SA20 PLAYERS IN TODAY’S SQUADS
MI London: (7) Trent Boult (MI Cape Town), Richard Gleeson (Joburg Super Kings), Will Jacks (Pretoria Capitals)*, Rashid Khan (MI Cape Town), Nicholas Pooran (MI Cape Town), Sherfane Rutherford (Pretoria Capitals), James Vince (Joburg Super Kings)
Sunrisers Leeds: (3) Dan Lawrence (Paarl Royals), Ryan Rickelton (MI Cape Town), Reece Topley (Joburg Super Kings)
*withdrew from Betway Season 4 due to injury or international commitments
