Sunday’s match is the final of the 2026 SA20 competition. The 34th match of the season is a repeat of Qualifier 1, with Sunrisers Eastern Cape and the Pretoria Capitals meeting for the second time this week.
These were the top two teams on the log at the end of the season, so it is fitting that they meet at Boland Park to fight for the trophy as the best T20 side in South Africa this year.
Here is a look ahead at the contest.
Pretoria Capitals VS Sunrisers Eastern Cape Venue: Boland Park, Paarl
Pretoria Capitals VS Sunrisers Eastern Cape Date: Sunday, January 25
Pretoria Capitals VS Sunrisers Eastern Cape Odds:
History
As we wrote in our qualifier 1 preview, this is a battle between a team that cannot find consistency and a team that finished the regular season on the hottest of streaks.
Sunrisers finished top of the log at the end of the 10-game season with 28 points, while Pretoria finished in second place with 24. They won the same number of matches, five, but Sunrisers had an extra no result (two points) and were better at picking up bonus points in their wins.
The Capitals didn’t even factor into the playoff mix until a Round 6 win kicked off a dominant run down the stretch. They won four of their last five regular-season games to fly up the table, then continued that momentum in Qualifier 1 to force the Sunrisers into playing elimination cricket.
SEC hasn’t won back-to-back matches since Round 1 and Round 2. They have alternated between losing and winning since then, with two no results thrown in, and based on that, they are in trouble here.
Pretoria Capitals
Pretoria swept into the final with an outstanding run chase in Qualifier 1 in Durban. Set 171 to win by SEC, Pretoira picked up the scoring late to win by seven wickets in the 18th over.
Bryce Parsons was the pick of the bowlers. His Player of the Match performance saw him take three wickets for just 10 runs. The batting was powered by Dewald Breivs, who crushed an unbeaten 75 from 38 deliveries.
Sunrisers Eastern Cape
If they needed a confidence boost, then their win over the Paarl Royals in Qualifier 2 would have been just what the Sunrisers were looking for.
Bjorn Fortuin was a menace with the ball, taking four wickets for 26 runs in his four overs. The bowling unit restricted Paarl to a total of just 114, an extremely manageable target for the power bats of SEC.
James Coles decided to end things quickly. His unbeaten 45 from just 19 balls was as wild as it sounds, with SEC needing just 11.4 overs to book a rematch with Pretoira.
Best Bets
Sunrisers have been the perennial winners of this comp and are chasing their third title after reaching the final in all four years of the format. This would be the first title for Pretoria, who lost the 2023 final to SEC by four wickets.
I love the Capitals’ bet to have the top batsman at 19/20. I think Preotiria will win, because riding the hot hand matters, and with the likes of Shai Hope, Sherfane Rutherford, and the bang-in-form Brevis in the lineup, there is a ton of power here.
This is a batting deck. The chasing team has been successful in the last three matches played here, so take that into account in your betting.
