Best bowling figures in an SA20 match – is Delano Potgieter top of the pops?

Jonhenry Wilson 11 Jan 2025

Delano Potgieter is a bowler in the SA20

Bowling for the first time ever in the SA20, Delano Potgieter took a five-wicket haul for MI Cape Town.

If you are looking for the latest information about the best bowling figures in an SA20 match, you are in the right place.

The SA20 is a popular T20 league in South Africa – and features several international players.

Here, we look at the best match figures in the history of the SA20.

5. Marco Jansen – 5/30

The Proteas all-rounder was key to the Sunrisers Eastern Cape’s second SA20 title win in 2024. His success with the ball was on full display at Newlands, when the team from Port Elizabeth met Durban’s Super Giants at effectively a neutral venue.

Jansen raced through five Super Giants wickets. All five of the players he dismissed had experience in international cricket. The left-armer really capitalised on conducive Cape Town conditions that day. The Sunrisers won the match.

4. Junior Dala – 5/26

Playing for Durban’s Super Giants against the Pretoria Capitals in 2024, Dala was bowling with reasonable pace at Kingsmead. He was involved in both dismissals of the Capitals’ openers, catching Phil Salt and bowling fellow England star Will Jacks.

Dala added Rilee Rossouw, Colin Ackermann and Wayne Parnell to his five-strong list of victims as the Super Giants moved to victory on their homeground. Not bad at all for a seamer who all but bowls off the wrong foot.

Also read: The oldest debutants in T20I cricket

3. Noor Ahmad – 5/11

One of two spinners on this list and another Super Giant star, the Afghanistan recruit also enjoyed conditions in Kingsmead in 2024. He needed just 20 deliveries for his five-wicket haul.

Ahmad flummoxed David Miller, Andile Phehlukwayo and company with sneaky changes in pace, extra flight and bounce and turn. There was not stopping him as the Durban side collected a comfortable win.

2. Delano Potgieter 5/10

Potgieter bowled for the first time ever in an SA20 match when MI Cape Town met the Sunrisers at St George’s Park in Port Elizabeth in the opening match of the 2025 tournament.

MI Cape Town were without Kagiso Rabada on the day, so brought Potgieter into the bowling attack as an extra option. He grabbed the opportunity with both hands to record the best bowling figures in the SA20 by a seamer.

1. Roelof van der Merwe – 6/20

The Sunrisers spinner has the best bowling figures in the history of the SA20. When the tournament was in its infancy, in 2024, van der Merwe starred against the Super Giants at St George’s Park.

West Indies players Jason Holder and Kyle Mayers were among his victim. Van der Merwe is still the only man to have taken more than five wickets in one SA20 match in South Africa.