Staff Reporter.
The Joburg Super Kings bounced back from two successive defeats to beat the high flying Pretoria Capitals by six runs in an epic SA20 showdown at the Wanderers. Needing 169 to claim the spoils and score 10 in the final over, the Capitals finished on 162 all out as right arm West Indian quick bowler Romario Shepherd bagged two wickets to turn the Bullring into a sea of yellow.
In their first home game of the competition, the Super Kings delivered an inspired display with bat and ball, recovering from 7/0 after three overs, having been asked to bat by Capitals skipper Wayne Parnell, to post a respectable 168/6.
Leus du Plooy, sent in at the fall of the first wicket to bolster the batting, lead the charge with an entertaining 75 not out from 40 balls (7×4, 5×6), his 12th half century in T20 cricket, sharing a second wicket partnership of 73 in 52 balls with Reeza Hendricks who played with caution in compiling 45 from 50 balls (4×4, 1×6).
Super Kings captain Faf du Plessis, opening the innings with Hendricks, added 27 from 16 balls (5×4) and while Du Plooy held the innings together with a mixture of proper cricket shots, reverse sweeps and scoops over the keeper’s head, the Super Kings lost some momentum at the end of their innings, losing three wickets for the addition of four runs.
Parnell used seven bowlers, Ethan Bosch (3/12) in three overs and Anrich Nortje (2/26) in four, the pick.
Aaron Phangiso delivers when @JSKSA20 needs him to ?#JSKvPR #Betway #SA20 | @Betway_India pic.twitter.com/oTNeXk8iQd
— Betway SA20 (@SA20_League) January 17, 2023
Super Kings wildcard signing Aaron Phangiso turned back the clock in brilliant spell of slow left arm bowling, keeping his team in the hunt with 4/32 in his spell. Four days shy of his 39th birthday he lead by example in the field, backed up by West Indians Alzarri Joseph (2/34) and Shepherd (2/28).
Despite a quick start by Capitals openers Will Jacks (16) and Phil Salt (29) who smashed 30 in the first three overs, the innings never reached top gear as the Super Kings bowlers struck at vital moments. Joseph dispatched Jacks and Rilee Rossouw (0) in successive balls and the defining moment came in the 14th over when New Zealander Jimmy Neesham (24) smashed Phangiso’s first three balls over the fence in an attempt to change the course of the match.
Displaying the guile of a bowler who had seen it all before, Phangiso’s fourth ball clipped the top of Neesham’s leg stump and despite some late hitting from Parnell (19 not out) and Bosch, run out for 15, the Super Kings hung on for victory, Du Plessis’ catch to dismiss Adil Rashid on the penultimate ball of the match ensuring four vital points, as Nortje could only edge the final ball to keeper Kyle Verreynne.
JOBURG SUPER KINGS: Faf du Plessis (c), Reeza Hendricks, Leus du Plooy, Kyle Verreynne (wk), Donovan Ferreira, Romario Shepherd, Sibonelo Makhanya, Alzarri Joseph, Maheesh Theekshana, Gerald Coetzee, Aaron Phangiso
PRETORIA CAPITALS: Phil Salt (wk), Will Jacks, Rilee Rossouw, Theunis de Bruyn, James Neesham, Shane Dadswell, Wayne Parnell (c), Migael Pretorius, Eathan Bosch, Adil Rashid, Anrich Nortje.