By Adnaan Mohamed
The streamers has barely settled on the pitch, yet the cricketing carousel is already spinning at full tilt. Less than 48 hours after the SA20 final, seven players are back in harness, this time in national colours as South Africa and the West Indies begin a trimmed three-match T20 series, a final nets session before the T20 World Cup spotlight switches on.
Originally slated for five games, the series was shortened to avoid colliding with the World Cup support window. Make no mistake, though this is no gentle loosener. Both teams are still bruised from the last global showpiece. South Africa reached the final and had one hand on the trophy before India snatched it away by seven runs. West Indies fell at the Super Eights hurdle, undone by the Proteas. The hunger to go one better burns like a fresh new ball on a green pitch.
For South Africa, the backdrop is complicated. Results in 2025 were uneven – 12 losses in 18 matches and no series wins – often due to injuries and players juggling formats.
All-format coach Shukri Conrad will still want a series victory inked next to his name, even if this contest is labelled “preparatory”.
Management, however, have opted for rotation. Quinton de Kock, Marco Jansen and Tristan Stubbs—fresh from lifting the SA20 trophy with Sunrisers Eastern Cape against Pretoria Capitals—have been rested for Tuesday’s first T20 in Paarl. Lhuan-dre Pretorius and Eathan Bosch step in as short-term replacements.
The series is a dress rehearsal for the T20 World Cup starting next week in India, where rhythm matters as much as results.
Markram’s joy for Stubbs and empathy for Maharaj
Proteas T20 captain Aiden Markram, who knows the Sunrisers’ dressing room intimately, was glowing about Stubbs’ match-defining final.
“He’s one of the guys in the team everyone wants to see do well. He’s that sort of person, and he grafts hard, he’s the ultimate pro.
And when you put the hard work in and don’t get the results you can get quite down on yourself, even your peers feel sorry for you. Then to come out and play a knock like that last night [Sunday], you can only be happy for him. It’s great to do it in final.
And when you do well in big games you take that confidence to the next one.”
Stubbs’ unbeaten 63 off 41 balls, alongside Matthew Breetzke’s 68 off 49, powered the Sunrisers’ chase of 159 with balls to spare – an innings stitched together like a perfectly timed partnership.
On the losing side stood Keshav Maharaj, Capitals skipper and Proteas stalwart. Markram understood the sting.
“As a person he’s an all-in type of guy, and it would have hurt him. He’s not an emotional kind of guy.
It’s just that he cares and puts a lot of love into it, then you come up just short, and the way the game unfolded as well, I understand why he’s hurting.
When I see him I’ll put an arm around him, get him riled up. I chatted to him a bit last night and said the trophy you want to win is the one in a few weeks time and that’s what we’ll go for now, and he’s all in for that.
We’ll try get him over last night as quick as we can and get him looking forward to the world cup as quick as we can.”
Now the whites are folded away, the national caps pulled on, and the scoreboard reset to zero. The real exam looms, but first, three high-tempo auditions under Paarl’s lights.
South Africa squad vs West Indies (T20s)
Aiden Markram (capt), Corbin Bosch, Dewald Brevis, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Rubin Hermann, George Linde, Keshav Maharaj, Kwena Maphaka, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Jason Smith, Eathan Bosch
