Kyle Verreynne will be heading up-country to more unfamiliar territory to play for the Joburg Super Kings in the inaugural SA20 that starts in January, but it is a shift that the astute wicket-keeper batsman is particularly thrilled about.

Verreynne, who was schooled at Wynberg Boys’ High in Cape Town, has become accustomed to Western Cape’s cricketing conditions throughout his young career thus far.

The 25-year-old previously played for Western Province Cubs, Western Province and the Cape Cobras, before getting swooped up by Cape Town Blitz and the Paarl Rocks in the two editions of the Mzansi Super League, South Africa’s previous franchise T20 league.

With a more daunting move up north where the wickets have considerably more bounce, Verreynne has been bought by the Super Kings for R175k as the side’s only wicket-keeper, a purchase that has excited the ambitious player.

“I’m quite happy to be going to Jo’burg if I’m being honest,” Verreynne told Cricket Fanatics Magazine at the SA20 auction after he was bought.

“I think it suits my style of play and playing under Faf [du Plessis] again, after playing with him in the second MSL, will be quite nice.

“I’m just really glad I’ll be involved in the tournament. I think it will be really good for Cricket South Africa (CSA) and cricket in this country in general so I’m really looking forward to it.”

Du Plessis, who was pre-bought by the Johannesburg-based side and is tasked to lead the team, is a player who Verreynne has looked up to numerous times in his career, which provides special significance for him in light of the SA20.

“Faf is someone who likes passing on knowledge. That’s something he does really well,” Verreynne said. “I know for myself, when I came into that Paarl Rocks side, he just sort of fed enough information to me as possible, and any questions that I had he was always someone I could speak to.

“I started with my international career when he was still involved [with the Proteas], and with the Test side, I started when he was still Test captain. It’s nice to have had that journey.

“I’m looking forward to playing under him again; I think it will be quite exciting,” added Verreynne, who’s played 11 Tests and 12 ODIs for the Proteas to date.

Test cricket, he said, is a format that truly ‘tests’ all your abilities, and he hinted that adjusting between the different formats could be foreboding. However, if approached the right way, it can be manageable.

“Chopping and changing between the formats is something that, as you grow and develop your game, you become accustomed to.

“But I think with any format of the game the basics stay the same; it’s about making sure your basics are in order and making adjustments as you go along.”

The SA20 is set to commence in early January 2023, where six teams will play in a double round-robin format. The other five teams are Paarl Royals, Sunrisers Eastern Cape, Mumbai Indians Cape Town, Pretoria Capitals and Durban Super Giants.