Sunrisers EC to host SA20 opener but miss out on playoff game

After being the headline act in SA last summer, the fifth season of the SA20 will be squeezed into a packed schedule, starting on January 17 with a repeat of last year’s final between the Sunrisers Eastern Cape and the Pretoria Capitals.

The final will be played at Newlands for the third time on February 21.

The entire tournament is being squeezed into a 36-day window, starting two days after the last ODI between England and the Proteas.

It will finish just days before SA’s Test side travels to Sri Lanka for a two-match series, which will be the Proteas’ last assignment in the 2025-27 World Test Championship cycle.

The SA20 drew record crowds last season as it provided salvation for the sport during the peak period of the cricket year in the country after CSA failed to schedule home Test matches in 2025/2026.

It started on Boxing Day and included matches on December 31 and New Year’s Day before concluding with arguably the best final in the tournament’s history, which the Sunrisers won by six wickets.

The three-time champions will kick off the tournament on home soil at St George’s Park on the third Sunday of 2027 against the Capitals.

Next year’s competition includes four double-headers to be played on Saturdays, along with a playoff game in Paarl for the first time.

“The Paarl fans have been some of the most passionate supporters of the league so I’m excited that we are finally able to give them a playoff in the form of qualifier one,” league commissioner Graeme Smith said.

There was criticism last season from some players and coaches about the fact that finishing higher on the log didn’t guarantee a home playoff game, but Smith explained that it was logistically impossible to do so given the packed calendar, an issue that has affected season five as well.

The Wanderers will host two playoff games — the eliminator between the teams finishing third and fourth and the second qualifier between the team that loses in Paarl and the victor in the eliminator before the final in Cape Town.

“The Newlands faithful have been fantastic hosts for our final in recent years and we’re grateful to Cape Town for their support as we return to Newlands once again,” Smith said.

This will be the latest start to the tournament since its inception. Apart from last year, the SA20 usually started in the first week of January, immediately after the New Year’s Test.

Though CSA had wanted to do so again and requested that England move the three-match ODI series to a later date, the England Cricket Board refused.

England see the three ODIs as crucial to the team’s preparation for next year’s World Cup in SA.

A player auction will take place on October 7. The league will announce the list of all pre-signed and retained players in August. — TimesLIVE