Ken Borland

Daryn Dupavillon called it “incredible” while the religious might even have said it was miraculous as Marques Ackerman’s last-ditch boundaries earned the Pretoria Capitals a bonus point win over the Sunrisers Eastern Cape on a pitch which had many batsmen praying for help in their SA20 match at Centurion on Tuesday.

Sunrisers needed all the help they could get as they lost the toss and were sent in to bat on a damp pitch, understandably so after all the rain that has fallen in Gauteng in the last month. Their confidence-lacking batting line-up did not help themselves either though, and they crashed to 26 for five.

It was only thanks to a determined but fiery 51 off 35 balls by Marco Jansen that they managed to post 113 all out, their second-lowest total ever and also the second-lowest at Centurion.

Will Jacks (27 off 23) gave Pretoria Capitals a confident start to their chase, but the loss of Kyle Verreynne (12) off the last ball of the powerplay saw them slip from 44 for one to 61 for four. Mindful of how they had messed up a run-a-ball chase in Kingsmead in their opening game, the home side went into crisis mode.

Liam Livingstone (14* off 14 balls) and Ackerman successfully completed their first job, which was to ensure victory was in the bag. But a crucial, and very attainable bonus point, seemed to have passed them by when they needed 32 runs off 18 balls for the bonus point.

They then went into attack mode but struggled to make much headway on the two-paced pitch against tight, determined bowling that still asked plenty of questions. They came to the 16^th over needing 15 from it for the bonus point.

Ackerman managed to swot Marco Jansen’s second delivery over long-on for a flat six, but two dot balls followed, meaning the left-hander needed to score nine off the last two balls for that crucial extra point.

First he flicked the left-arm quick off the stumps, behind square on the leg-side for four, before swinging the last ball clean-as-a-whistle over long-on for six. In just his second SA20 innings, and his first since 2023, Ackerman finished on a tenacious, highly impressive 39 not out off 30 balls.

“It was a tricky pitch, you couldn’t just walk in and start hitting, you had to spend some time getting the pace of the wicket. When we lost a few wickets, I was just thinking of us getting the win,” Dupavillon said after the victory by six wickets with 24 balls to spare.

“We played the situation badly in Durban, but Liam and Marques really did what was required today. They hit the ball on the ground initially and we were always ahead of the rate because of Will going hard at the front. But Marques was incredible at the end there.”

While SA20 matches at Centurion are usually a festival of runs, Tuesday was very different. At the start of the game, the ball was ‘sticking’ but there was still some steep bounce, as well as swing and a little bit of movement off the deck.

Dupavillon and new-ball partner Eathan Bosch used the conditions perfectly, with Dupavillion taking three for 32 and Bosch two for 18.

Bosch had Zak Crawley (1) caught at mid-off off the last delivery of the first over, unwisely trying to hit a back-of-a-length ball over the top. Dupavillon then struck with his second and third deliveries as David Bedingham (2) edged a nurdle outside off-stump and Aiden Markram jabbed his first ball to deep backward square-leg.

For a team that has lost their first two games, crashing to four for three was always going to be a very difficult hole to climb out of. Jansen’s excellent innings, featuring four fours and three sixes, meant they weren’t totally embarrassed, but Migael Pretorius (4-1-21-1), Jimmy Neesham (3.4-0-11-2) and Senuran Muthusamy (4-0-29-2) all provided fine support to the new-ball bowlers.

The back-to-back defending champions, having lost three matches in a row now, need to urgently arrest their slide otherwise they will be praying for a miracle of their own.

“We need to find our blueprint soon because we haven’t played well in our last three games. You need to make your own luck and we need to do the basics better. Fortunately there are still seven games to go and we know we are in for the long run.

“We haven’t started well before but have managed to find a way. But we are running out of time to make a play,” assistant coach Russell Domingo said.

The broad bats of Sarel Erwee and Marques Ackerman defied the Titans for more than three hours but a jumbo-sized effort by Titans spinners Kyle Simmonds and Neil Brand then pegged the Dolphins back to 258 for seven at stumps on the third day of the 4-Day Series final at Kingsmead on Saturday.

After heavy rain meant just 10 overs of play were possible on the first two days, an absorbing day’s cricket finally began an hour into the third day. Seamer Dayyaan Galiem moved the ball around intelligently in the first hour and claimed the early wicket of Keegan Petersen for 16, bringing Erwee and Ackerman together on 47 for two.

They faced a challenging morning session but showed enormous application as they put on 135 for the third wicket. Erwee, solid and compact, was immense in scoring 100, while Ackerman overcame a really scratchy start to score an impressive 74.

Left-arm spinner Simmonds, on his Titans debut, dismissed both set batsmen – Erwee was bowled by a delivery that surprised him by turning sharply into the left-hander, while Ackerman was deceived in the flight and struck a firm return catch to the 27-year-old. Simmonds ended the day with two for 95 in 24 overs, a good effort.

Brand, also a left-arm spinner, then dismissed Eathan Bosch (12), Theunis de Bruyn taking a wonderful reflex catch at slip, and Mangaliso Mosehle, lbw for a duck, in successive overs to close with excellent figures of two for 18 in 13 overs.

Khaya Zondo looked promising in scoring 21, but he sometimes errs in getting out in soft ways and he did that again on Saturday, clipping a Thando Ntini half-volley on his pads straight to square-leg.

Ruan de Swardt (18*) and Prenelan Subrayen, who is yet to score, will continue the Dolphins first innings on the penultimate day.                                                                              

There may have been two days of rain, but Dolphins captain Marques Ackerman said he knew that on a typically dry Kingsmead deck, his spin duo of Prenelan Subrayen and Senuran Muthusamy would still win them the game in the 4-Day Domestic Series final which ended in Durban on Monday.

And so it proved in extraordinary fashion as off-spinner Subrayen (10 for 80 in 60 overs) and slow left-armer Muthusamy (nine for 91 in 42.5 overs) shared an unprecedented 19 wickets (the other dismissal was a run out) as the Titans were hammered by an innings and 76 runs, including being bowled out for their lowest ever total – 53 – in the first innings.

“I’m being dead honest when I say that even with only three days left in the game, not once was there any talk about the draw. We said from the start that we were going to win the match and not share the trophy, that was the unbelievable positive energy and mindset in the changeroom. Everyone was just so goal-driven and with so much bad light usually in play here, we normally only play three days so we knew how to win.

“We knew on this pitch that if we batted well then that would bring our spinners into the game, and so credit to Sarel Erwee, whose hundred put us on the front foot. The quality of our spinners was vital and their control was exceptional. They are world-class and I hope that gets recognised soon. Their groupings are so good, they test the batsman’s technique all the time, both edges, and they have impeccable skills,” Ackerman said on Monday.

The 25-year-old Ackerman said the Dolphins’ first outright win in the franchise four-day competition, in the last game of the franchise era, was a credit to all the players, staff and administrators at Kingsmead.

“This win was all about the people who do all the admin, the people who look after the things behind closed doors, the staff who look after all the small things, the groundsman and our sponsors who are the best, and not just the players. We’re all really stoked to finish the season this way and for the trophy not to be shared is a great end of the Dolphins journey.

“We knew we had the talent to win the four-day competition but we knew we had to put a lot of hard effort into it, we had to make changes. That was the little flame, we didn’t even have a team song, so we created the team culture we needed in red-ball cricket. I don’t think many people realise how hard it is to win the four-day tournament,” Ackerman said.