The first match of the inaugural season of SA20 will be played between MI Cape Town and Paarl Royals in Cape Town tonight. Newlands, whose last international match in the form of a South Africa-India ODI had been played almost a year ago, will be hosting a T20 after more than a couple of years.
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A tournament which has a lot of Indian Premier League influence will be hoping to get off the mark in the same manner like IPL did 15 years ago. Assuming that the same happens, it will be quite an unparalleled start for SA20 2023.
ALSO READ: When and where to watch SA20 2023 in India and UK?
Having said that, for that to happen, someone out of Jofra Archer, Dewald Brevis, Sam Curran, Liam Livingstone, Kagiso Rabada, Rashid Khan, Jos Buttler, David Miller and Jason Roy will have to take centrestage unless a lesser known name dominates proceedings in a match which will be remembered for the years to come.
Cape Town T20 records
Highest run-scorers in Cape Town T20s are Jean-Paul Duminy (841), Richard Levi (611), Quinton de Kock (605), Andrew Puttick (547) and Faf du Plessis (519). A list of best batters at this stadium among active cricketers is provided below:
| Batter | Matches | Runs | Highest | Average | SR |
| Quinton de Kock | 23 | 605 | 93 | 27.5 | 137.19 |
| Faf du Plessis | 17 | 519 | 78 | 32.44 | 127.52 |
| Reeza Hendricks | 15 | 485 | 81 | 32.33 | 124.68 |
| Rassie van der Dussen | 13 | 464 | 74 | 46.4 | 127.47 |
| Dane Vilas | 22 | 448 | 75 | 34.46 | 121.41 |
Highest T20 wicket-takers at the Newlands are Rory Kleinveldt (29), Charl Langeveldt (28), Beuran Hendricks (26), Vernon Philander (23) and George Linde (22). As far as the best active T20 bowlers at this venue are concerned, a list of them is given below:
| Batter | Matches | Wickets | Average | Economy | SR |
| Beuran Hendricks | 15 | 26 | 18.62 | 8.64 | 12.92 |
| George Linde | 19 | 22 | 18.41 | 7.11 | 15.55 |
| Imran Tahir | 10 | 20 | 12.1 | 6.21 | 11.7 |
| Aaron Phangiso | 13 | 15 | 15.93 | 5.98 | 16 |
| Dane Paterson | 11 | 13 | 25.08 | 8.97 | 16.77 |
Highest T20 innings totals at Newlands
| Score | Overs | Team | Opposition | Year |
| 212/4 | 20 | Cape Cobras | Titans | 2007 |
| 207/2 | 20 | Cape Cobras | Warriors | 2009 |
| 203/5 | 20 | Warriors | Cape Cobras | 2009 |
| 196/4 | 20 | Jozi Stars | Cape Town Blitz | 2018 |
| 193/5 | 20 | Australia | South Africa | 2020 |
The record for the highest successful T20 run-chase at the Newlands belongs to England for them chasing down a 192-run target with nine wickets and 14 balls in hand against South Africa a couple of years ago.
