Every team looks to build their squads to best suit their home conditions in T20 competitions. This is of even more importance in the Betway SA20, where each team plays five matches at home.
If history is anything to go by, five victories are enough for a team to cement a spot in the knockout rounds. If you are able to win all your home matches, you will qualify for the business end of the tournament, and it also means that you are only a couple of victories on the road away from a crucial top-two spot.
Let’s see how squads stack up for their home fixtures.
JOBURG SUPER KINGS – DP WORLD WANDERERS
Traditional pitch & ground characteristics – Pace and bounce, has taken more turn of late, small boundaries combined with high altitude.
Player types required – Express pace, spinners for all phases, boundary hitters supported by an anchor.
Express pace: The Joburg Super Kings will rely on Nandre Burger and Richard Gleeson to clock balls of over 140kph and rush the batters. They will be wary of the fact that pace can also travel very quickly off the bat to the boundary if not controlled well. They will be keeping their fingers crossed that Burger’s hamstring injury isn’t too serious.
All-phase spinners: Akeal Hossein has proven his ability to bowl tight overs and pick up wickets in the powerplay, while Prenelan Subrayen has also been used in this phase of an innings before. The attacking leg spin of the old fox, Imran Tahir, will be crucial as they look to take wickets through the middle phase. Depending on whether a frontline keeper is selected, Donovan Ferreira will dart in a few quick off-breaks, a role he has even fulfilled in the death overs before.
Boundary hitters: The likes of Donovan Ferreira, Rilee Rossouw, James Vince and Rivaldo Moonsamy are all players who like to pepper the boundaries. They will be ably supported by the likes of the captain and Wiaan Mulder, who returns to his domestic home base of the Wanderers after three seasons with Durban’s Super Giants. Collapses can happen at times at the Wanderers if it is just all out attack from both ends, which is why someone batting through could prove decisive.
PRETORIA CAPITALS – CENTURION PARK
Traditional pitch & ground characteristics – Best batting venue in the tournament, spinner’s graveyard, small boundaries combined with high altitude.
Player types required – Express pace and/or hit the deck bowlers, spinners with good control, boundary hitters.
Express pace/HTD bowlers: The Pretoria Capitals will look to Lizaad Williams and Gideon Peters to deliver express pace and hit back of a length hard. While Lungi Ngidi doesn’t quite have their pace, he can still hit a hard length and will complement them with his deceptive changes of pace.
Controlled spin: Keshav Maharaj will play a pivotal role in the team’s success this season. Spinners are generally in for a hiding in Centurion and Maharaj will have to use all of his experience to get through matches fairly unscathed and even pick up the odd wicket. He will be supported by the likes of Roston Chase and Bryce Parsons, who will all need to be very accurate.
Boundary hitters: Shai Hope, Dewald Brevis, Sherfane Rutherford and Andre Russell should all have no issue in finding the boundaries on regular occasions. This will be good news for the fans at the ground who have become accustomed to many opportunities for taking one-handed catches for the Betway Catch R2 million competition.
DURBAN’S SUPER GIANTS – HOLLYWOODBETS KINGSMEAD
Traditional pitch & ground characteristics – Spinner friendly, extra bounce, small square boundaries.
Player types required – All types of spinners or bowlers with good changeups, bowlers who can hit the deck hard, batters who are strong square of the wicket.
Spinners and/or changeup bowlers: Durban’s Super Giants, who let go of a lot of their spinners from the previous season, are now pinning their hopes on the mystery spin of Sunil Narine and Noor Ahmad. They also have the wily David Wiese who is sure to bowl a lot of cutters into the surface.
Hit the deck bowlers: Gerald Coetzee and Evan Jones are known to hit back of a length quite hard, while Daryn Dupavillon and Kwena Maphaka will provide the pace. The question is whether Coetzee and Maphaka will be fit to play the entire season.
Strong square of the wicket: The likes of Heinrich Klaasen, Marques Ackerman, David Bedingham and Tony de Zorzi are all strong square of the wicket and will look to make good use of the short square boundaries.
The team consists of four players who know the Kingsmead conditions very well as they also play for the Hollywoodbets Dolphins domestically. Even Devon Conway played for the Dolphins back in the day.
SUNRISERS EASTERN CAPE – ST. GEORGE’S PARK
Traditional pitch & ground characteristics – Something in it for pace bowlers, spinners and batters. It generally becomes more difficult to bat under lights.
Player types required – Swing bowlers, bowlers who present a good seam and are consistent, batters who are adaptable and strike a good balance.
Swing bowlers: The Sunrisers Eastern Cape retained the leading wicket taker in the tournament’s short history in Marco Jansen, who is capable of swinging the ball back into the right-handers. They also bought back Beyers Swanepoel and picked up CJ King, who can swing the ball both ways.
Consistent seam bowlers: Adam Milne has good pace but also bowls accurately and can get good seam movement. From a pace with control perspective, there are few as good as Anrich Nortje in the country. Lutho Sipamla and Patrick Kruger are also capable of nipping the ball off the surface and bowl in a good area consistently.
Adaptable batters: Some astute signings were made with Matthew Breetzke, Quinton de Kock and Mitchell van Buuren joining the likes of Tristan Stubbs and Jordan Hermann at St. George’s Park. All of them are very good at adapting their games based on the conditions, and will strike a good balance with the heavy hitters like Jonny Bairstow and Jansen.
The team invested heavily into players who know the conditions like the back of their hands. No fewer than 11 players have either played for the Dafabet Warriors in the past, or still currently do.
PAARL ROYALS – BOLAND PARK
Traditional pitch & ground characteristics – Big boundaries/outfield, slowish pitch, spinner friendly.
Player types required – All types of spinners and good changeup bowlers, batters who can graft and run hard, batters who can come down the wicket to create their own pace.
Spinners and changeup bowlers: As has been the case throughout the first three seasons of the SA20, the Paarl Royals have again stacked their side with spin. Last season, they became the first team to bowl 20 overs of spin in a T20 match, and they can aim to do the same again with Bjorn Fortuin, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Nqaba Peter, Gudakesh Motie, Vishen Halambage, Sikandar Raza and Dan Lawrence all offering spin options. Delano Potgieter and Ottneil Baartman will look to vary their pace on the Boland Park pitch when given the opportunity.
Grafting batters: Lhuan-dre Pretorius and David Miller have already shown that they are capable of getting runs on the Boland Park pitch by maintaining a balanced approach. The likes of Kyle Verreynne and Dan Lawrence will be adept at finding the big pockets in the field and running hard.
Down the wicket batters: The likes of Rubin Hermann, Keagan Lion-Cachet and Delano Potgieter like coming down to the bowlers, which will help them to create some pace onto the bat and generate power into their shots.
MI CAPE TOWN – WORLD SPORTS BETTING NEWLANDS CRICKET GROUND
Traditional pitch & ground characteristics – Something in it for pace bowlers, spinners and batters. Traditionally offers a good contest between bat and ball.
Player types required – Bowlers who can move the ball around through the air or off the pitch, attacking spinners and pacers who can hit the deck hard in the middle overs, balance between attacking batters and accumulators.
Bowlers who can move the ball: MI Cape Town have retained two of the best exponents of moving the ball through the air and off the pitch in Trent Boult and Kagiso Rabada. They have also picked up Tiaan van Vuuren, who is capable of swinging the ball back into the right-handers.
Attacking spinners and hit the deck bowlers: The team has a good mix of attacking spinners in the form of Rashid Khan and Thomas Kaber, while also having the control of George Linde and Dane Piedt. Corbin Bosch and Tristan Luus can both bang the ball in on a hard length through the middle overs at good pace to tuck the batters up.
Balanced batting line-up: MI Cape Town have run accumulators in the form of Rassie van der Dussen and Reeza Hendricks who can lay a solid platform for the destructive power of Nicholas Pooran, Ryan Rickelton and Jason Smith. They also have the luxury of batting deep with allrounders in the form of Linde, Bosch, Dwaine Pretorius and even Tiaan van Vuuren.
All teams have tried to cover all their bases when it comes to playing at home and will hope that it translates well to other venues as well.