The Pretoria Capitals kept their outside hopes of qualifying for the play-off stages of SA20 alive as they cruised past the Joburg Super Kings to win by six wickets with 48 balls remaining.
It was a night to forget for Faf du Plessis and his charges as they lost the toss and were asked to bat first.
The Capitals’ bowlers were on the money from ball one and while JSK advanced to 21 before the first wicket fell, thereafter it became a procession as only Jonny Bairstow, with 30 from 32 provided any real resistance. JSK ended on 99 for nine after their 20 overs – a score that was never going to be defendable.
Under no pressure whatsoever the Capitals reached the target off 12 overs to secure the bonus point. Marques Ackerman top scored for the Capitals with 39 from 22 balls while with the ball it was Lutho Sipamla with three for 26 who did the bulk of the damage.
Speaking to SuperSport after the game capitals skipper Kyle Verreynne who stood in for the struggling Rilee Rossouw on the day, said: “It’s been a tough couple of days. So yeah, excited to get that bonus point. Hopefully, we can take it forward.
“I think we were nice and clinical with the ball, we started really well, and I think we just sort of pressed from that, and then with the bat we lost a couple of wickets, but I thought the guys had finished it off, they were awesome.
“It felt like a really good wholesome team performance, and I think that’s the most pleasing going into the last three games. We’ve only played the two games at home so far, so sort of coming back.
“I think we’re quite comfortable playing here. We made a few changes. It’s always nice to get some fresh faces in the side and I think that probably just brought a little bit of extra energy and extra fight that we’re maybe lacking in the last couple of games. Hopefully, we can continue doing that.”
Asked about the captaincy and if he enjoyed the role, he added: “I love it. I’ve done it back domestically for a few years now. It’s a great opportunity. Great. A great tournament to do it in. So far so good. Hopefully, I can continue to go up.
“There are two games left but in theory, there could be five games left, and I think it’s just about keeping that in mind. Making sure that we don’t sort of switch off, we take in everything that we’ve done well today and make sure that for the last couple of games, we continue to do that. And yeah, I think like I stress to the boys, just make sure that they have a lot of rest. That’s probably going to be key going into the last couple of games. Play with a smile on our faces and we’ll probably get the best out of ourselves,” he said.
Meanwhile losing skipper Faf du Plessis said: “Frustrating day for us, one of those days we felt like a lot of things went wrong but strangely in this competition, there were a few of those games. The team batting first expected to get a big score on the board, then it’s almost just bundled out for between 100 and 120, and then the team came in second, making it quite easy work.
“So, it was a strange one for me, assessing it. It looked really good when we were standing at the top of the coin toss there. But after facing a couple of balls, really, I’ve not played a lot of games at SuperSport Park, where the first ball of an off-spinner is turning and bouncing like that. So just a really dry surface and obviously, the nature with the night games, generally at SuperSport, the ball, always skids on a bit more, but still, even on a pitch that was tricky to bat on first, I feel like you need to be in the mark of around 140 and give yourself a chance at night,” he said.
This team, this belief 🩵#RoarSaamMore #BetwaySA20 #PCvJSK pic.twitter.com/4qSXldIwvC
— Pretoria Capitals (@PretoriaCapsSA) January 28, 2025
