The first of Saturday's Betway SA20 matches sees Paarl Royals host Sunrisers Eastern Cape and later on Joburg Super Kings take on MI Cape Town
Paarl Royals v Sunrisers Eastern Cape
Paarl Royals have brought in a host of new faces including Joe Root and Dinesh Karthik. David Miller is the skipper and other top local names include Andile Phehlukwayo and Lungi Ngidi. This will be their first action of the tournament.
The Sunrisers started the defence of the trophy they have won for the last 2 seasons at home to MI Cape Town on Thursday but they had a bad day at the office, going down by 97 runs. MI posted 174/7 batting first (Gleeson 2/22, Jansen 2/38), quite a few runs more than had looked likely for much of the innings. The run chase hardly got off the ground with only 4 batsmen making it to double figures of which Markram was top scorer with just 19. Sunrisers were all out for just 77 from 15 of their 20 overs.
This was how the Sunrisers lined up in their opening match.
Jordan Hermann, Zak Crawley, Tom Abell, Aiden Markram (c), Tristan Stubbs (wk), David Bedingham, Beyers Swanepoel, Marco Jansen, Liam Dawson, Simon Harmer, Richard Gleeson
The Betting
Paarl Royals 21/20
Sunrisers 8/10
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Prices subject to change
The Verdict
Sunrisers record over the 2 previous editions suggest they can be forgiven a poor display on Thursday, I wouldn't be surprised to see them bounce back but my preference is for any batsman to score 64 runs or more.
Bet: Top Batter Total Runs, over 63.5 at 17/20 with Betway
Joburg Super Kings v MI Cape Town
Jonny Bairstow is the marquee signing for JSK who have also added Devon Conway to their ranks. Faf du Plessis is the skipper Moeen Ali remains with the franchise and other spin options include Imran Tahir and Tabraiz Shamsi as they prepare to open their campaign.
Delano Potgieter had a night to remember in MI Cape Town's 97 run win away to the Sunrisers. He made 25 not out off 12 balls with the bat towards the end of MI's innings which closed on 174/7 (Brevis 57). Potgieter then claimed 5 wickets at a cost of just 10 runs from 3 overs and MI wrapped up a most comfortable victory.
This was how MI Cape Town lined up in their opening match.
Reeza Hendricks, Rassie van der Dussen, Dewald Brevis, Colin Ingram, Connor Esterhuizen (wk), Delano Potgieter, Azmatullah Omarzai, George Linde, Rashid Khan (c), Corbin Bosch, Trent Boult
The Betting
Joburg Super Kings even money
MI Cape Town 8/10
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Prices subject to change
The Verdict
MI were very impressive on Thursday when they smashed 11 sixes in their innings. I fancy they can clear the ropes at least 8 times here.
Bet: MI Cape Town total sixes over 7.5 at even money with Betway
Note: All prices correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
