Ken Borland

A quickfire half-century from Sherfane Rutherford and the express pace of Gideon Peters sent the Pretoria Capitals surging to the top of the SA20 standings on Monday night with their bonus point victory over a subdued MI Cape Town at SuperSport Park.

The in-form Rutherford struck a pugnacious but classy 53 off just 27 balls to lift Pretoria Capitals to 185 for six after they had been sent in to bat, providing a fabulous late boost to an innings that was restrained in a first 15 overs in which they could only score 101 for four.

Peters then took three wickets in his first two overs, prompting a dramatic collapse that saw MI Cape Town lose four wickets for nine runs between the powerplay and the halfway mark of their innings. MI Cape Town eventually limped to 132 for seven, losing by 53 runs.

Reeza Hendricks scored 68 not out off 50 deliveries, but he struggled to bat with any freedom, his first 30 runs coming off 35 balls before a late flurry saw him collect four sixes which really were too little too late.

The rest of the MI Cape Town batsmen did not cover themselves in glory either. Openers Rassie van der Dussen (15) and Ryan Rickelton (7) both fell to boundary catches inside the powerplay, while Nicholas Pooran lashed 17 off five deliveries and then promptly cut Andre Russell straight to short third man.

Corbin Bosch (2), Karim Janat (0) and George Linde (0) proved to be a very fragile middle-order, and even the big-hitting Jason Smith could only score 13 off 17 balls as he and Hendricks meandered to a 34-run partnership between the 10^th and 15^th overs.

On paper, the team from the Western Cape should be playing beautiful T20 cricket; the defending champions boast the most successful opening pair in SA20 history in Van der Dussen and Rickelton, and Pooran, Linde and Smith are feared boundary-hitters. A bowling attack of Boult, Rabada, Bosch, Rashid and Linde is a coach’s dream for T20 cricket.

But MI Cape Town have been as fragile as the delicate Disa orchids that are the emblem of the Western Cape, showing none of the resilience this summer of the Proteas which that area is also famous for. They are now at the bottom of the log, five points behind the Paarl Royals in the fourth and final playoff place, with the Boland team having two games in hand.

Their highly-rated bowling attack was also disassembled by the Capitals, as their poor death bowling once again reared its ugly head.

Rutherford and Dewald Brevis (34 off 19) lashed 84 runs off the last five overs to give the home side an above-par total on a tricky pitch for batting. It was a two-paced surface with variable bounce and all bowlers needed was basic discipline in sticking to lines and lengths to make life hard for the batsmen.

That’s where Peters excelled as he took three for 32, brilliantly supported by Lungi Ngidi (4-0-29-1), Lizaad Williams (4-0-27-1), Russell (4-0-20-1) and spinner Keshav Maharaj (4-0-19-1).

“We just tried to do the basics better tonight. Sometimes you just try to do so much as batters that you get bowled out inside 20 overs or as bowlers you get whacked around. I was just trying to hit the top of off-stump,” Peters said.

The Pretoria Capitals certainly gave the defending champions an education in how to play on pitches with a bit of spice, keeping resources in hand for a late surge but also ensuring the platform was laid with positive intent.

It’s been an SA20 campaign of some angst for the Pretoria Capitals and their new coach Jonathan Trott, but a change of captain and bringing in a handful of fresh players saw them ease to an assured bonus point victory over the Joburg Super Kings at Centurion on Tuesday night, which will provide a considerable confidence-boost as the playoffs loom.

The Capitals came into this crucial local derby having won just one of their previous seven matches, but two No-Results and a bonus point win meant they weren’t knocked out of contention just yet. But another victory was almost essential and they pulled it off in style, winning by six wickets with fully eight overs to spare.

The triumph was set up in the field after new skipper Kyle Verreynne won the toss and sent Joburg in to bat. The bowlers responded with a superb display of calm discipline – conceding just one leg-bye and one wide as extras epitomised that – and the Capitals were brilliant in the field.

The pressure saw the Super Kings restricted to just 99 for nine in their 20 overs, the lowest SA20 total ever at Centurion.

Two players making their SA20 debuts set the tone with the ball. Australian Thomas Rogers was excellent up front, taking one for 20 in his four overs, while Gideon Peters, from North-West via Border but born in Pretoria, caused great unease in the middle overs with his sheer pace and excellent control. He finished with two for 15 in his four overs, dismissing two of Joburg’s international stars in Devon Conway (9) and Moeen Ali (0). And Peters very much got them out – Conway couldn’t handle the heat from a short delivery and was caught behind, while Moeen was trapped lbw by a searing leg-stump yorker.

The batting line-up also has a fresh look with Will Smeed, Ashton Turner and Keagan Lion-Cachet all in the top six.

Regular captain Rilee Rossouw was unavailable on Tuesday because his wife had given birth in the morning, but Verreynne confirmed after the match that the change of captain will be in place until the end of the tournament.

“We wanted to freshen up the team with new guys and they’ve had an immediate impact. We’ve had five guys sitting on the side who are very hungry and we did really nicely in the field, just keeping it simple,” Verreynne said.

“I thought with both the ball and in the field we were exceptional and we were really ruthless, which is maybe what we have lacked up till now. We just kept putting pressure on the Super Kings and the way we played is very pleasing and important because we’ve spoken about getting momentum to take into the back stretch of the competition.”

The Pretoria Capitals are now just one point behind the fourth-placed Super Kings, with both franchises having two games remaining. The Joburgers host Paarl Royals and Durban Super Giants, while the Capitals play home and away against MI Cape Town, so it is going to be a tense finale to the round-robin stages.

Joburg Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming was upset by his team’s failure to exhibit much tenacity. After their poor batting display, they were scattergun with the ball and sloppy in the field, two catches going down. The most crucial was Marques Ackerman being missed on 0 by Lutho Sipamla at deep backward point when Pretoria were two down inside the first five overs. The left-hander went on to score 39 off 22 balls, which settled the contest in poised fashion.

“It was a really bad one, a poor performance. There’s been a bit of a trend this season that batting first seems a bit more challenging, but the players didn’t have the mindset to work their way out of a tough situation. We were sloppy with the bat, the ball and in the field, so 0/3 of our skills worked, which is a problem,” Fleming said.

“The Capitals were able to extract variable pace and bounce, but we contributed to our own demise, we should have posted 140 but we just gave up too easily. You need to adapt to conditions and get a score on the board, but the modern player doesn’t seem to have that toughness to find a way to do it. It’s mostly mental.”

With the Western Cape teams playing such inspired cricket at the moment, Fleming admitted that it will now take a miracle for the Joburg Super Kings to finish in the top two and earn themselves two chances of making the final.

“We’re probably out of the race for one and two, but there are three teams hunting hard for the other two playoff places. We have our last two games at home, where we are very comfortable. So that’s a positive, but we have to play better,” Fleming said.

The Pretoria Capitals, meanwhile, seem to have found some belated inspiration. The rousing fast bowling of Peters had much to do with that. The 25-year-old was born and schooled in Pretoria and represented the SA U19s in 2018. He played 28 matches for Northerns across all three formats, but for some reason left to play for Border in 2021.

Thankfully for a bowler of his potential, he has been playing for North-West in Division One for the last two seasons.

While Peters may not be known to many, Verreynne had a brief but memorable meeting with him before they became SA20 team-mates.

“I played against him in a T20 match for Western Province last season. The first ball I didn’t see and the second ball got me out. So I knew what he was about and obviously I’ve seen him a lot in training now. He’s a serious talent with the ability to bowl 150km/h-plus, and his ability to bowl at any stage of the innings impresses me. Plus his attitude and hunger is most pleasing,” Verreynne said.