The defending champions of the Wildeklawer Noord/Suid T20, Hoërskool Waterkloof, will be properly tested from their first game in this year’s tournament.
The Klofies have a tough pool, with Grey High School of Gqeberha being their first opponent, and their second match against St David’s Marist might be their toughest during the pool stages. Their final pool match will be against Westville Boys’ High.
The Wildeklawer Noord/Suid T20 has become the most prestigious schoolboy cricket tournament since its inaugural event back in 2018. All the traditional powerhouses of South African school cricket are in attendance. Since readmission in 1991, more than 98 per cent of the Proteas’ top-order batsmen have come from these schools.
In the seven previous tournaments, the trophy got a home in Pretoria six times, with Grey College of Bloemfontein (2021) the only side outside of the capital city to have won it. Waterkloof was crowned champions in 2022, 2023 and 2025. Affies won it in 2024, while Menlopark bagged the first two titles in 2018 and 2019.
Waterkloof and Affies will be the favourites for this year’s title, but as it is with T20 cricket, anything can happen.
The Klofies have an impressive batting line-up with AJ de Villiers and Rico van der Walt leading the charge. De Villiers was named Player of the Tournament during last year’s edition and also got the same accolade at the conclusion of this year’s Fasken Time Cricket Festival. The spin bowling of Rivan Booysen and Johan Liebenberg will also play a vital role in the team’s title defence.
Affies’ team is led by Vihan Pretorius, who has been in good form with the bat lately. Pretorius recorded the highest-ever individual innings by an Affies first team player with his unbeaten 241 runs against Garsfontein a couple of weeks ago. The younger brother of Protea Lhuan-dré Pretorius is quickly moving out from underneath his brother’s big shadow. Lhuan-dré scored the highest-ever T20 score last week, hitting 188 against the Knights in a CSA T20 Challenge match in Bloemfontein.
Vihan is supported well by Christian Linde and AJ Morkel in the batting department. Morkel is the son of former Protea, Albie Morkel.
Add Jeppe High School for Boys to the mix, who were crowned the Schools SA20 champions earlier this year. Their star players who need to be at their best if they are to break the teams from Pretoria’s stronghold are Vegas Scott, Lincoln Casais, Keegan Cockburn and Zizi Mkhize.
Mkhize was named Player of the Tournament at the conclusion of the Schools SA20 Final Showdown.
Grey College could also cause a couple of upsets with Christian Kind and Aiden Dodd, who could tear apart bowling attacks.
The Fixtures:
8 October 2026 | 13:30
Waterkloof vs Grey High School (Camp Discovery)
St David’s Marist vs Westville Boys’ High (Gijima)
Menlopark vs Rondebosch Boys’ High (Sinoville)
Jeppe High School for Boys vs Northwood (Affies)
Grey College vs Durban High School (Harlequins)
Affies vs Paarl Boys’ High (André van der Walt Oval – Waterkloof)
King Edward VII vs CSA HUB (PHSOB)
St Andrew’s School vs Paul Roos Gimnasium (Menlopark)
9 October 2026 | 09:00
King Edward VII vs St Andrew’s School (Camp Discovery)
Paul Roos Gimnasium vs CSA HUB (Gijima)
Grey High School vs Westville Boys’ High (Sinoville)
St David’s Marist vs Waterkloof (Affies)
Rondebosch Boys’ High vs Northwood (Harlequins)
Jeppe High School for Boys vs Menlopark (André van der Walt Oval – Waterkloof)
Durban High School vs Paarl Boys’ High (PHSOB)
Grey College vs Affies (Menlopark)
9 October 2026 | 14:00
Paul Roos Gimnasium vs King Edward VII (Camp Discovery)
CSA HUB vs St Andrew’s School (Gijima)
Waterkloof vs Westville Boys’ High (Sinoville)
St David’s Marist vs Grey High School (Affies)
Menlopark vs Northwood (Harlequins)
Rondebosch Boys’ High vs Jeppe High School for Boys (André van der Walt Oval – Waterkloof)
Affies vs Durban High School (PHSOB)
Paarl Boys’ High vs Grey College (Menlopark)
