CricViz, Betway SA20's official stats partner, have crunched the numbers and picked out some interesting stats, facts and trends from the opening week.
This is what they've found.
Durban's Super Giants, masters of the squeeze
With Will Jacks and Rahmanullah Gurbaz set at the crease and Pretoria Capitals needing just 56 off 48, Durban's Super Giants found themselves with just a 12% chance of turning the game around - then came the DSG squeeze.
Despite the Capitals sitting in a dominant position, Super Giants skipper Keshav Maharaj resisted the urge to bowl Noor Ahmad predominantly in the first half of the innings, instead holding back three of his overs for the final eight over of the innings … and Noor delivered.
Afghanistan’s left-arm wrist spinner first picked up his compatriot Gurbaz with a googly drifting away from him as the right-hander was caught in the deep, targeting the shorter boundary. In his next over Noor bowled the other set batter, Jacks, with a ball that drifted away before spinning in sharply (3.5°) to bowl him - Chris Woakes had dismissed Rilee Rossouw in between Noor’s two overs to leave the Capitals three down with no set batter at the crease.
From there on the Capitals crumbled - from the 13th over, when Noor returned, to the end of the game 42% of deliveries were dot balls with a wicket falling every 8 deliveries as no Capitals batter took responsibility to see his side over the line, while DSG had the experience of Woakes, Maharaj and death bowler Naveen-ul-Haq on hand to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.
Lhuan-dre Pretorius goes big on debut
Paarl Royals have struggled to find a reliable left-handed top-order batter in the first two seasons of the SA20, with Royals left-handers batting in the top six averaging just 22.20 while striking at 122 in that timeframe. However, in 18-year-old Lhuan-dre Pretorius, they seem to have found their answer in their opening match of the 2025 SA20 season.
Pretorius hit a match-winning 97 off 51 in pursuit of 175 and raced off to 34 off 22 inside the PowerPlay before kicking on even further once the field spread, scoring 63 off 29 with five fielders on the rope, clearing the rope while also keeping dot balls to a minimum facing only eight dots post PowerPlay.
As is convention in modern T20 cricket, Sunrisers looked to attack the left-hander with the off-spin of first captain Aiden Markram and then Simon Harmer - Pretorius responded by hitting 29 off 15 against off-spin during his innings, including 2x4s and 2x6s. Sunrisers also tried going short to him with little success, Pretorius taking 29 off 14 against deliveries shorter than eight metres, clubbing sixes off short balls from Richard Gleeson, Ottneil Baartman and Marco Jansen.
Pretorius eventually fell just short of his century, but you wouldn’t bet against him notching three figures soon in Royals colours off the back of such a dazzling debut innings.
More swing, seam, spin than previous seasons
We’re only four matches into Season 3 but ball tracking data suggests that both average swing and average seam figures inside the opening four overs of the innings have increased compared to the last two seasons, with both figures rising by 0.1°.
ALL THE NUMBERS
2023 | Average swing: 1.05° | Average seam: 0.68°
2024 | Average swing: 0.96° | Average seam: 0.62°
2025 | Average swing: 1.13° | Average seam: 0.75°
It will be interesting to see if this continues during the campaign and how teams will look to adapt. Will we see batters taking a more cautious approach? Will less spin be bowled earlier in the innings? Will new ball quicks be asked to bowl more upfront?
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