The SA20 is set to pass its second-season test when it concludes on Saturday in front of a sell-out Cape Town crowd. The tournament's momentum continued from its inaugural bow last year with solid crowds at all six venues and new sponsors and television deals. But it continues to clash with the increasingly packed calendar of internationals and T20 leagues.
This year, the SA20 tournament was played under the cloud of questions over South Africa's commitment to Test cricket as a makeshift side was sent to New Zealand. Last year, the SA20 had to pause for a must-play World Cup Super League series against England, which South Africa won. While that lifted spirits, their performances this time have had the opposite effect. South Africa lost the first Test heavily, by 281 runs, and coach Shukri Conrad went from optimistic to realistic as he compared their challenge to being a team in the relegation zone facing log leaders. Three days after the SA20 concludes, the South African Test side will go again and no, the first-choice players cannot simply jet off to New Zealand. Travel and protocols rule them out since they won't be able to play for at least a week after arrival.
At least, the New Zealand series has taken place in the middle of the night, when most South Africans are asleep or celebrating the national football team, Bafana Bafana, who reached the semi-finals of the African Cup of Nations for the first time since 2000. And that provides a snapshot of the things the SA20 is competing against. Along with the SA20, South Africa has also hosted the Under-19 Men's ODI World Cup and performed well to reach the semi-final, the European Rugby Champions Cup has been happening where two South African sides compete, and the Six Nations rugby championship has started. But in a world of more, more, and more, the SA20 has shown it can keep pace and has delivered its own increases this season.
In total, 10 of the 31 completed matches could be classed as close, with the winners triumphing by 10 (or fewer) runs or winning with six (or fewer) balls to spare; last season that number was nine. There were four hundreds this season, compared to three last year and two five-fors compared with one last time around. All those numbers have one more chance to improve in the final where defending champions Sunrisers Eastern Cape (SEC) have the chance to defend their title against first-time finalists Durban's Super Giants (DSG).
How did SEC and DSG get here?
SEC had to wait until their third game for a win after their opener was washed out and they lost to DSG. Their only other hiccup on the way to the final was a three-run defeat to Pretoria Capitals, but since have marched through five victories, including a dominant performance against DSG in Qualifier 1.
DSG won their first three matches before losing to Pretoria Capitals in a high-scoring match and SEC in a much lower-scoring game in the middle of their season. They reeled off five successive wins and led the points table for the bulk of the back half of the league stage, before being leapfrogged by SEC at the end. Things got tricky when they lost to SEC in Qualifier 1 and had to make the trip up to Johannesburg to play in Qualifier 2 against a resurgent Joburg Super Kings. A convincing 69-run victory booked them back to Cape Town for the final.
Must-Watch Players and Match-Ups
If big-hitting is your poison, it will be impossible to take your eyes off Heinrich Klaasen who has an eye-popping strike rate of 208.87 and in the six-smashing form of his life. His performances were headlined by an opening knock of 85 in 35 balls as DSG chased a revised target of 167 in 16.3 against MI Cape Town overs and a 30-ball 74 in Qualifier 2, both offering evidence of his ability to perform under pressure.
But who's going to stop him? Well, that could be someone with far less of a global profile. Ottniel Baartman is uncapped at international level - though he has been part of a few South Africa Test squads - and leads the wicket charts with 16 at an average of 12.18 and economy rate of 7.09 - the lowest among bowlers who have more than 10 wickets in the tournament. Baartman's skills lie in his pace-off variations and he won't offer Klaasen much to work with.
SEC only have one batter in the run-scoring top 10 - Jordan Hermann, who scored a century in the first week of the tournament but has not gone past 36 since. That suggests they've relied on several performers and Tristan Stubbs, Tom Abell, and Dawid Malan have two fifties apiece while Aiden Markram and Marco Jansen have also scored half-centuries.
Collectively, they'll be wary of Junior Dala, who has played only four matches and is just three wickets behind Baartman - with 13 wickets at an average of 10.07.
The South Africa and Durban's Super Giants spinner talks about his bowling philosophy
What can we expect from Newlands?
Cape Town has been the Goldilocks venue this season with scores neither very high nor very low at an average first-innings total of 172. For comparison, SuperSport Park, at altitude on the Highveld, has an average first innings score of 200 and St George's Park, the slowest of the venues, averages 166. That should mean conditions for the final will present an ideal balance between bat and ball, and among all types of bowlers. Pacers have taken more wickets at Newlands - 38 compared to spinners' 27 - but they have also been more expensive. Seamers have conceded 8.89 runs to the over while spinners have kept things tighter at 7.59.
There's been some unseasonal summer rain in the Western Cape this year but none is forecast for Saturday, when it is set to be mild and windy.
And is there anything more than the cricket?
Obviously. The SA20 sells itself as "sportainment" with the biggest drawcard the crowd catches that are worth a share of R2 million (approx USD 105,000). The premise is simple: if a six is hit into the stands, anyone who takes a clean, one-handed catch is entitled to a share of the cash. Needless to say, it's turned spectators into supermen and superwomen and provided an extra talking point for all.