Exclusive: Jonathan Trott Calls for Change After Pretoria Capitals’ Disappointing SA20 Campaign

Like a porter forced to carry all the bags of an SA20 franchise at once, new Pretoria Capitals coach Jonathan Trott found the burden of the team’s poor recruitment at auction time too much to bear and the team bowed out of contention for the playoffs with a game to spare when they were well-beaten by 27 runs by MI Cape Town at Centurion on Friday night.

Missed Playoffs Again

The result left Pretoria Capitals with just two wins from nine matches and ended their slim hopes of finishing in the top four. 

They close their campaign against the same MI Cape Town team on Sunday at Newlands, but even if they win with a bonus point, the best they can do is finish level on 19 points with Sunrisers Eastern Cape and Joburg Super Kings (providing they both lose their final matches). 

The Capitals only have three wins though, compared to the four of their rivals, and that is the first tie-breaker for teams finishing level on points.

Afghanistan national coach Trott was only appointed as the new Pretoria Capitals mentor at the end of July. By then the franchise only had three slots to fill in the auction, the vast majority of their squad having been retained or pre-signed, despite finishing fifth out of six teams in 2024. They will finish in the same position this year.

Recruitment Woes

There is, however, a mega auction this year ahead of the 2026 SA20, and the South African-born former England player admitted that widespread change was probably necessary.

“I wasn’t here last season, but if you’re not in the top four out of six teams then they might be a few changes going forward. We need to get the right type of players in, guys with the right talent and character. Character, especially, is such a huge thing that comes out when you’re under pressure,” Trott told sportsboom.co.za. 

“A few things didn’t help us this season, we had injuries to key marquee players [Anrich Nortje, Daryn Dupavillon, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Wayne Parnell]. But in our first game, we should have knocked off the runs [210 v Durban Super Giants] and that would have given us nice momentum. We also had a couple of matches rained out."

“Our closing out was a problem, we just weren’t able to perform for the whole 20 overs, so we never had momentum with the bat. The batting had some moments and glimpses, but there were no massive partnerships apart from for the first wicket in our first game. And when we bowled first, we were in some really good positions but we couldn’t hold them. Some matches were going very well but we just couldn’t put 40 overs together,” Trott said.

Amidst all the gloom, two new faces, batsmen Will Smeed and rookie signing Keagan Lion-Cachet, made excellent contributions towards the back end of the campaign. 

Left-arm spinner Senuran Muthusamy, a tenacious character, was the leading wicket-taker for the Pretoria Capitals with 10, and conceded just 7.00 runs-per-over, while fast bowler Gideon Peters made a thrilling debut in the bonus point win over Joburg Super Kings in their previous game.

Injuries and Inconsistencies 

Will Jacks, who scored 515 runs in the first two seasons of the SA20, could not find the same superb output, scoring just a couple of half-centuries this campaign. His off-spin was very effective though and he remains a quality overseas signing.

Paceman Eathan Bosch, who had taken 21 wickets in the first two seasons, could only manage six in eight matches this time around.

Players with distinguished T20 records like Rilee Rossouw and Liam Livingstone were major disappointments. Captain Rossouw had a horror season, scoring only 32 runs in six innings, and by the last week of the tournament, he had been axed as skipper. Marquee signing Livingstone scored just 49 runs in three innings.

But Trott, who has enjoyed wonderful success with Afghanistan, seems up for the challenge of turning the Pretoria Capitals’ fortunes around. The franchise were runners-up under Graham Ford in the first season of the SA20.

“The first year as coach, you’re just trying to build relationships. We’ve had quite an influx of overseas players leaving, local players coming in and out; there’s been a huge turnover of players [20 this season alone]. But it’s a fun challenge, it’s part of being a coach and I’ve enjoyed it,” Trott concluded.