A league that had found its shape
The second season kept everything that had worked and changed one thing that had not. The 2023 competition had used straight semi-finals, which gave the team that topped the table no advantage beyond a home fixture. For 2024 the SA20 adopted the Indian Premier League's playoff ladder: Qualifier 1 between the top two, with the winner going directly to the final and the loser given a second chance in Qualifier 2 against the winner of the Eliminator. It rewarded a good league campaign, and in 2024 that meant Sunrisers Eastern Cape.
Having sneaked into the previous season's knockouts in third, Sunrisers won seven of their ten matches this time and lost two. Durban's Super Giants, who had finished fifth in 2023, were the other side of the table's top half, winning seven and taking four bonus points. Between them they occupied the two Qualifier 1 places with a gap of several points to Paarl Royals in third.
A one-sided final
The playoffs were unusually decisive. Sunrisers bowled Durban out for 106 at Newlands in Qualifier 1 to reach the final with four days to spare. Joburg Super Kings beat Paarl Royals by nine wickets in the Eliminator, then lost Qualifier 2 to Durban by 69 runs, so the final repeated the Qualifier 1 fixture.
Sunrisers batted first at Newlands and made 204/3, built on Tom Abell's 55, 42 each from Aiden Markram and Jordan Hermann, and Tristan Stubbs's 56 not out from 30 balls at the end. Durban never began the chase properly. Marco Jansen took 5/30 from his four overs and the innings closed on 115 in 17 overs. The margin of 89 runs was the widest in an SA20 final, and Sunrisers became the first side to win the competition twice.
The cost of the window
The season was played against an argument about what the league was doing to South African cricket. In December 2023 Cricket South Africa confirmed it would send a Test squad containing seven capped players to New Zealand in February so that its leading cricketers could stay at home for the SA20. The tour was lost 2-0 and the decision was widely condemned, including by former South African captains.
The cricket itself continued to draw. Ryan Rickelton made 530 runs for MI Cape Town, the highest seasonal aggregate the competition had seen, though his team finished bottom for the second year running. Heinrich Klaasen, who had carried Durban's batting through the league stage and Qualifier 2, was named player of the tournament on the night his side lost the final.