The 11th game of the SA20 league was played at The Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg between the Joburg Super Kings and the Pretoria Capitals. Another great encounter transpired on South African soil on another day, as both sides gave their all until the final whistle. But in the end, the Super Kings won by a score of six runs.
Pretoria Capitals won the toss and chose to bowl first. The Faf du Plessis-led team, which was selected to bat first, got off to a good start as the captain and Reeza Hendricks began the batting for Joburg Super Kings. The pair cruised through the powerplay, but Du Plessis was out in the eighth over when Anrich Nortje struck for his first of the day.
Even after losing the first wicket, the top-order batsmen persisted, with Leus du Plooy joining Hendricks at the crease. The pair put up a well-executed 73-run partnership for the second wicket, keeping the opposing bowlers on edge. Despite missing out on a well-deserved half-century, Du Plooy remained unblemished and pushed the game till the last delivery.
Following Hendricks’ departure, the middle-order trio of Donavon Ferreira, Romario Shepherd, Sibonelo Makhanya, and Gerald Coetzee collapsed as Leus du Plooy batted as a lone warrior. When Eathan Bosch joined the attack in the final over, three wickets fell, but courtesy to Du Plooy’s 40-ball 75*, the Super Kings scored a respectable total of 168/6 in their given 20-over quota.
The Pretoria Capitals had a solid start to the chase, with Philip Salt and Will Jacks adding 30 runs in the opening three overs, but Alzarri Joseph struck on successive deliveries to dismiss Jacks and Rilee Rossouw. Philip, too, was unable to extend the game and was ejected shortly after the powerplay after scoring 29 runs off 15 deliveries.
In the middle overs, Theunis de Bruyn and Shane Dadswell chipped in with the bat, but the Capitals’ scorecard did not improve until Jimmy Neesham released the beast inside. He hit three consecutive sixes off the first three balls of the 14th over to get his team back into the game, but the Super Kings spinner got the last laugh when he removed the all-rounder off the fourth delivery.
Eathan Bosch and captain Wayne Parnell continued adding runs to the board, but the former was removed in the 18th over, and a catastrophic mix-up between Parnell and Migael Pretorius resulted in the latter being run out. Adil Rashid’s massive six off Joseph’s last delivery of the penultimate over got the Capitals back into the game, leaving them needing 10 runs off the final over.
In the last over, Romario Shepherd grabbed command of the ball. Faf du Plessis had superb fielding abilities in the last over as the Super Kings managed to remove Adil Rashid with seven runs needed off the final two deliveries. Shepherd eventually limited the opposing bats as the Joburg Super Kings won by a dramatic six-run margin.
