OPINION: Rain stay away, SA20 deserves thrilling final at Wanderers

Here’s hoping for good weather on Saturday afternoon because the final of the inaugural SA20 competition, to be played at the Wanderers in Joburg, deserves a fitting end to what has been a wonderful new addition to the cricket schedule.

I know I’m giving my age away, but not since the days of the Benson and Hedges day-night cricket series has a non-international limited overs competition generated so much interest and excitement.

The SA20 League has been a thrill and long may it continue.

New stars

The marketing pre-tournament was good, the matchdays were excellent, the catch-a-million (or two) was genius and the cricket itself was spectacular.

Besides the established cricketers who showed off their skills, the highlight for me was the emergence of several young players who showed they will soon be ready to step up for the Proteas.

Here one thinks of bowlers Eathan Bosch, Gerald Coetzee and Evan Jones and batters Matthew Breetzke, Jordan Hermann, Dewald Brevis and Tristan Stubbs, even though the latter two seemed to struggle in the spotlight.

It is interesting though that the older, more experienced players still dominated the batting and bowling lists, proof that skills honed over time cannot be beaten.

Here one thinks of Anrich Nortje, Roelof van der Merwe, Bjorn Fortuin, Jimmy Neesham and Adil Rashid who took 10 wickets or more, while Faf du Plessis, Heinrich Klaasen, Quinton de Kock, Rasssie van der Dussen and Aiden Markram were the top South African batters. England’s Jos Buttler (32) was for a long time the leading run-scorer.

Shot in the arm

South African cricket has been given a much-needed shot in the arm. The trick now is to keep it going and to make 2024 bigger and better.

It’ll be interesting to see what the organisers choose to do.

Commissioner Graeme Smith has already said there will be a change to the structure of the playoffs next year, with an “eliminator” coming in, hopefully more foreign players will join, and maybe in time Bloemfontein will get their team (the fans showed during the SA-England ODI series they’re keen for cricket).

For now, let’s hope Saturday’s final is a thriller, played in front of a packed Wanderers, and under clear blue skies.