The opening game of South Africa’s premier T20 competition will feature the defending champions, the Sunrisers Eastern Cape, taking on MI Cape Town at St George’s Park.

A total of 30 group matches, followed by knockout games, will be played before the final, scheduled for 8 February at the Wanderers in Johannesburg.

As back-to-back champions, the Sunrisers have been compared to the Springboks, who have dominated world rugby over the past six years with consecutive World Cup titles. However, Proteas white-ball captain and Sunrisers skipper Aiden Markram humbly acknowledged that their achievements are not yet on the same level as the Springboks.

“It’s nice to sort of be mentioned in the same sentence as the Boks, but I don’t quite think we’re there yet,” said Markram. “That said, we’re definitely pumped to try and get a third one this year.

“Obviously, there are no guarantees, and it’s usually a competitive tournament. Hopefully, in a month’s time, something cool can happen. But for now, we’re looking forward to playing cricket and creating an environment where guys really enjoy themselves.”

Meanwhile, Free State cricket legend and former Proteas left-handed batter Rilee Rossouw has been named captain of the Pretoria Capitals for this season of SA20.

Rossouw, known as a destructive batter and a "cricketing mercenary" for his participation in various T20 leagues worldwide, represented the Knights earlier this season. Before sustaining an injury, Rossouw put the Free State in a strong position to reach the CSA T20 Challenge play-offs, but the team fell short in the latter stages of the competition.

The Capitals will begin their campaign on Friday when they face the Durban Super Giants at Kingsmead in Durban.

Rilee Rossouw. Photo: Morgan Piek

Rossouw, who prefers to let his bat do the talking, underlined the team’s simple approach of playing positive and aggressive cricket. “I’m pretty excited to be part of this third season and am looking forward to some good cricket,” said Rossouw.

“Yeah, I guess we want to play positive cricket – it’s not just my philosophy, it’s the team’s philosophy. We aim to play good cricket at a good pace and stay competitive. Every team this year is super strong, so we’ll have to bring our best to every single game.”

The opening game between the Sunrisers Eastern Cape and MI Cape Town in the SA20 is set to start at 17:30 on Thursday.

OFM Sport/Morgan Piek cg