Young Guns of the SA20

The Betway SA20 already has a history of shining the spotlight on the brightest upcoming talents and there are plenty of young guns hoping that they can make use of their opportunities in season four of South Africa’s premier competition.

NEIL TIMMERS

With a surname like that, you can rest assured that the 21-year-old Timmers hits the ball with ferocious power. The southpaw spent his time obliterating bowling attacks at school level for Helpmekaar College, in the Lenasia Premier League, and for Old Edwardians, his cricket club, where he has shared the field with the likes of Mitchell van Buuren and more recently, Connor Esterhuizen.

He has had to take the longer road to recognition, having not previously represented the South Africa Under-19s or played any cricket at the domestic franchise level before his one match for the DP World Lions this season. What he did do to make up for the lack of exposure was to impress the Joburg Super Kings’ coaching set-up so much during their three-day trials ahead of the SA20 Auction that they decided to pick him up as one of their Under-23 players.

If a lack of exposure previously might have caused some frustration for the youngster, he has now been given the perfect platform to let it all out on some unsuspecting SA20 bowlers.

CONNOR ESTERHUIZEN

Esterhuizen has been around for a while and was part of the title-winning MI Cape Town last season, so you can be forgiven for not realising that he is still only 24 years old. In his SA20 career, he has made 219 runs in nine innings at an average of 31.28 and a strike rate of 120.99. This season, he gets his opportunity to showcase his talent in Centurion for the Pretoria Capitals on a pitch that tends to be the envy of batters across the country.

Esterhuizen comes into this tournament off the back of a stellar season for the Lions, where he scored 510 runs, with three centuries in five innings in the CSA Four-Day series before the start of the CSA T20 Challenge. This included a double century. He was rewarded for his remarkable form with a call-up to the SA A for their tour of India where he scored an unbeaten 52 off only 54 balls in the fourth innings of a successful record chase of 417.

Having also made scores of 47(23) and 38(24) for the Lions on his return to the side in the CSA T20 Challenge, Esterhuizen will be brimming with confidence ahead of the new SA20 season.

ANDILE SIMELANE

A lot of eyes will be on Simelane, who was picked up by Durban’s Super Giants during the latest SA20 Auction. He has been given a lot of opportunities at the Hollywoodbets Dolphins as well as 10 international appearances for the Proteas in T20 Internationals, but hasn’t grabbed it with both hands yet.

What he has grabbed is some spectacular catches throughout the season, both for the Dolphins as well as the SA Emerging side. Simelane is a true athlete who is a massive asset in the field for any team that he represents.

He has shown glimpses of his capability with the ball in hand, but has belied his hitting ability with the bat thus far. In the pre-season Metro T10 Cup, he smashed 84 runs at an astonishing strike rate of 240, proving that he is a great striker of the cricket ball, which he will want to showcase in the biggest local tournament of the year.

JP KING

King already had good CSA T20 Challenge tournaments in 2023 and 2024, but really took his game to another level this season. In eight innings, he smashed 203 runs at an average of 50.75 and a strike rate of 161.11. He is a versatile batter who has batted at almost every spot in the top seven, but he has truly thrived as a middle-order finisher this season, which is a scarce commodity domestically.

King is also a handy offspinner who has been used in the powerplay overs and through the middle, proving that he can contribute throughout a match as an allrounder.

With a First-Class average of 48.66 after five matches, King is one of the most promising youngsters on the domestic scene and will be chomping at the bit to show his worth should he be given the opportunity at the Sunrisers Eastern Cape this season.

LHUAN-DRE PRETORIUS

Already a bit of a household name, 19-year-old Pretorius heads into his second season looking to show why he was the leading run scorer last season and push for re-selection into the Proteas T20 squad ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup in February 2026.

Pretorius thrived alongside Joe Root last season as he piled on 397 runs at an average of 33.08 at a strike rate of 166.80, despite pitches at his home venue of Boland Park often being on the slower side and not as batting-friendly as the pitches in the Highveld that he grew up playing on.

His T20I career for the Proteas has not gone to plan so far, and he was left out of the squad to face India, so there is plenty for Pretorius to play for in pink and blue this upcoming season.

TIAAN VAN VUUREN

A year younger than Marco Jansen, Tiaan van Vuuren would like to illustrate that he can be next in line as a left-arm pace allrounder in South Africa. While having gone under the radar up until being selected for the SA20 as a Rookie for the 2024/24 season, this year Van Vuuren’s career has seemed to really take off.

After some standout performances for the SA Emerging side in Bangladesh with both bat and ball, Van Vuuren was called up to the SA A side to face New Zealand in a four-day series in September. He ended up taking 4/107 in the first innings of the second match at Willowmoore Park in Benoni, before following it up with an enterprising 120 with the bat off only 115 balls, his first century in professional cricket.

He was rewarded by playing in both four-day matches against India A in India, where he ended up being the top wicket taker of the series with nine wickets at an average of 25. Van Vuuren will look to utilise his great form to help MI Cape Town secure back-to-back titles.