Paarl on top at SA20 halfway, but much can change

You would need, apparently, two more days to walk from the Wanderers in Johannesburg to Newlands in Cape Town than it has taken to reach the halfway stage of this year's SA20.

Eleven days in, and all six teams have played five of their 10 league games. Twenty more days – or 21 if the first attempt to play a final is washed out – and we'll have a champion.

Paarl Royals are at the top of the standings after beating Joburg Super Kings by six wickets with five deliveries remaining. Paarl have the competition's top two runscorers, Lhuan-Dre Pretorius and Joe Root, who have made two half-centuries each.

Cape Town are in second spot, having already matched their wins from the first two editions of the tournament. They have a good thing brewing, according to Ryan Rickelton, who said: "I don't know what it looks like from the outside, but from the inside it feels different this year."

Durban's Super Giants are at the bottom of the standings, but could reverse their fortunes if they win all of their remaining games. Stephen Fleming said: "We are a little unsettled… We've got to just settle and start playing more rhythm into our cricket, which is not there at the moment."

Paarl's Bjorn Fortuin said: "We won't count our chickens too early. The past two seasons, we've had good starts and then fallen away. So we'll take it game by game and try and get as many wins as we can before playoff time."