STAR QUALITY ALL ROUND, BUT SA20 WON’T BE PLAYED ON PAPER

With the new team smell still wafting through the SA20 League squads, it can be impossible to tell who did the best business at the inaugural auction at Cape Town’s Convention Centre.

Conventional wisdom about how you go about putting a T20 side together is to preselect a spine of five players made up of a go-to top and middle order batters, an all-rounder, a fast bowler and a spinner before fleshing it out with further buys at the auction.

With the SA20 League boasting a heavy Indian Premier League influence – all six teams are virtual satellite teams – one imagines the same principles were applied in the recruitment of each squad.

While you could get whiplash trying to take in all the star quality across the teams, the MI Cape Town side looks properly stacked.

Simon Katich’s side have current Proteas Kagiso Rabada, Rassie van der Dussen, Ryan Rickleton, with George Linde and Beuran Hendricks the other capped SA internationals in the squad, but arguably the biggest attraction within the squad is rookie Dewald Brevis.

The ex-SA Under-19 star shot the lights out at the recent Cricket SA Division 1 T20 Challenge with a record-breaking 162 that has everyone excited about the prospect of the teenager turning out at Six Gun Grill Newlands in the coming season.

The MI Cape Town side also have a heavy English influence with the big-hitting Liam Livingstone set to take aim at Table Mountain with his long strikes, while England’s Olly Stone also has pace yaar – as the locals like to say.

Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan is also a global T20 superstar who has built up his reputation by burning up franchise leagues all around the world and will be looking to do the same for MI Cape Town in the SA20.

The Durban Super Giants, though, will be looking to maximise their home base at Hollywoodbets Kingsmead in Durban judging by the squad they have put together.

The KwaZulu-Natal venue has long rid itself of its reputation of being a fast bowler’s paradise with the pitch now being much lower and slower.

The presence of Proteas spin twins Keshav Maharaj and Simon Harmer is a major bonus and they will certainly look to repeat their brilliant performance of last year at the same venue when they spun a web around the Bangladesh Test side.

The Super Giants also have the all-rounders Wiaan Mulder and Dwaine Pretorius to exploit the conditions with their subtle change of pace making them tricky customers in these almost subcontinental conditions.

Quinton de Kock’s experience at the top of the order is certainly a bonus for the Super Giants as the playing surface hardly ever matters when De Kock is striking it sweetly.

There is a definite Caribbean flavour to the Super Giants with West Indian all-rounders  Jason Holder and Keemo Paul – whose middle name is Mandela – signed for the SA20.

But in the same way the Super Giants won’t be playing all their matches in Durban, T20 tournaments are not decided on paper.

While we’re all obsessed with strike rates, dot balls and boundary hitting, what matters most is how those stats are achieved in partnerships, which means combinations win games.

Which teams have the best combinations can only unravel during the tournament, but there will be no shortage of South African players with a point to prove, especially with IPL and Proteas recognition as the carrot.

With no Proteas international cricket to hijack some of the spotlight, the SA20 League – which begins on January 10 – has the potential to have “Pink ODI” vibes for all 33 games.

It’s one to watch!

Tickets go on sale soon, keep an eye on our social channels @SA20_League.