Lizaad Williams — the fast bowler kept for pace and bounce

Pace, bounce, and a retained place

Williams was retained rather than bought, which is the quieter kind of compliment. Pretoria looked at their pace attack and decided he was part of it — not a gap to fill at the auction.

He bowls right-arm fast-medium, hits the pitch hard, and gets the kind of bounce that troubles batters even on slow surfaces. His overs tend to come when the batting side is looking to accelerate, which is exactly when a wicket matters most — and Williams has a habit of providing them.

The attack around him is deep. Lungi Ngidi leads it, Gideon Peters brings pace, and Keshav Maharaj brings spin. Williams’s job is to be the bowler the captain can throw the ball to in any phase and trust to compete — new ball, middle overs, or death.

The bowler for the overs that decide games

Williams’s value is in the middle and at the end — the overs where batters attack and games turn.

A fast bowler who can bowl a hard length and follow it with a well-disguised slower ball is gold in the last five overs. Williams gives Keshav Maharaj that option, and he gives the attack a different shape to Ngidi’s swing and Peters’s bounce. Variety, in a long season, is what keeps batters from settling.

Finalists again, with a rematch to open

Pretoria Capitals reached the 2026 final and are still chasing a first title. Keshav Maharaj has captained the side since Season 4, Sourav Ganguly has been head coach since Season 4, and the home ground is SuperSport Park in Centurion, which hosts five home league games.

The SA20 season starts on Sunday 17 January 2027, and the Capitals open it — against Sunrisers Eastern Cape at St George’s Park, a rematch of the 2026 final. See the full SA20 Schedule for the fixtures, and the SA20 Players index for every squad. Williams’s overs will not always make the highlights — but they may decide the tight games.