• Home
  • Match Hub
  • Pretoria Capitals Strengthen Their Hold On Top Spot In Sa20 League

PC vs PR: Pretoria Capitals strengthen their hold on top spot in SA20 League 


image-ldv58yn8Capitals defeat Royals [Twitter]

Despite losing their final league match of the inaugural season of the SA20 League 2023 against the Pretoria Capitals by 59 runs, the Paarl Royals have qualified for the semi-finals. These two teams will meet again on Wednesday to play semi-final 1 at the Wanderers in Johannesburg.

Mendis starred with a sparkling half-century

After being sent to bat first, the Capitals got off to a solid start with a 69-run opening stand between their overseas recruits Kusal Mendis and Phil Salt.

Paarl Royals fought back with three quick wickets. A 57-run stand between Mendis and veteran Colin Ingram put the Capitals' innings back on track. Once Mendis departed, big-hitting all-rounder James Neesham came in and went all-out against the Royals bowlers. The pair finished the innings with a flourish, clouting the last three overs for 41 runs to help their team to get to a total of 226.

The wicket looked like a belter and at one stage they certainly made it look like it even more. The Capitals amassed 60 runs within the first four overs, and at one stage they must be targeting a score of somewhere around 270. But the wicket got slower and slower and it made stroke-making relatively difficult.

Buttler's knock ensures Semi-final birth for Paarl Royals

Jason Roy and Paul Stirling got the Royals to an identical start in the first innings, but the intensity fell off soon when Stirling holed out to Senuran Muthusamy. Tearaway quick Anrich Nortje accounted for Roy next over itself. Regarded as the better bowling attacks in the competition, Pretoria Capitals kept pushing the required run rate up in the process they got wickets at regular intervals. The wicket started playing a lot of tricks and even a player of Jos Butler's caliber struggled for timing for the majority part of his innings.

Buttler, instead of being the usual aggressor, decided to bring out the anchorman in himself on a wicket that was tricky to bat on in the second half. He needed a reliable partner at the other end to keep the score moving, and he found two in Eoin Morgan and David Miller.

Both couldn't stay for long durations as Buttler was stuck alone. He couldn't win them the game but his fighting half-century helped the Paarl Royals just do enough to qualify for the semifinals of the inaugural edition of the SA20 2023 League.

The Royals had to at least reach 163 with the bat to make sure that their net run rate stayed ahead of Durban’s Super Giants and that they qualify for the semi-finals.

Brief Scores:

Pretoria Capitals: 226/5 (20 Overs)

Kusal Mendis 80(41), Colin Ingram 41 (21)

Lungi Ngidi 2/39, Andile Phehlukwayo 1/43

Paarl Royals: 167/9 (20 Overs)

Jos Buttler 70(45), Eoin Morgan 24 (12)

James Neesham 3/28, Adil Rashid  2/18

Match Result: Pretoria Capitals won by 59 runs


ALSO READ: BCCI releases list of players for WIPL Auction; Harman, Mandhana, Verma in highest bidding bracket