Ken Borland

Like a porter forced to carry all the bags of an SA20 franchise at once, new Pretoria Capitals coach Jonathan Trott found the burden of the team’s poor recruitment at auction time too much to bear and the team bowed out of contention for the playoffs with a game to spare when they were well-beaten by 27 runs by MI Cape Town at Centurion on Friday night.

The result left Pretoria Capitals with just two wins from nine matches and ended their slim hopes of finishing in the top four. They close their campaign against the same MI Cape Town team on Sunday at Newlands, but even if they win with a bonus point, the best they can do is finish level on 19 points with Sunrisers Eastern Cape and Joburg Super Kings (providing they both lose their final matches). The Capitals only have three wins though, compared to the four of their rivals, and that is the first tie-breaker for teams finishing level on points.

Afghanistan national coach Trott was only appointed as the new Pretoria Capitals mentor at the end of July. By then the franchise only had three slots to fill in the auction, the vast majority of their squad having been retained or pre-signed, despite finishing fifth out of six teams in 2024. They will finish in the same position this year.

There is, however, a mega auction this year ahead of the 2026 SA20, and the South African-born former England player admitted that widespread change was probably necessary.

“I wasn’t here last season, but if you’re not in the top four out of six teams then they might be a few changes going forward. We need to get the right type of players in, guys with the right talent and character. Character, especially, is such a huge thing that comes out when you’re under pressure,” Trott told sportsboom.co.za

“A few things didn’t help us this season, we had injuries to key marquee players [Anrich Nortje, Daryn Dupavillon, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Wayne Parnell]. But in our first game, we should have knocked off the runs [210 v Durban Super Giants] and that would have given us nice momentum. We also had a couple of matches rained out.

“Our closing out was a problem, we just weren’t able to perform for the whole 20 overs, so we never had momentum with the bat. The batting had some moments and glimpses, but there were no massive partnerships apart from for the first wicket in our first game. And when we bowled first, we were in some really good positions but we couldn’t hold them. Some matches were going very well but we just couldn’t put 40 overs together,” Trott said.

Amidst all the gloom, two new faces – batsmen Will Smeed and rookie signing Keagan Lion-Cachet – made excellent contributions towards the back end of the campaign. Left-arm spinner Senuran Muthusamy, a tenacious character, was the leading wicket-taker for the Pretoria Capitals with 10, and conceded just 7.00 runs-per-over, while fast bowler Gideon Peters made a thrilling debut in the bonus point win over Joburg Super Kings in their previous game.

Will Jacks, who scored 515 runs in the first two seasons of the SA20, could not find the same superb output, scoring just a couple of half-centuries this campaign. His off-spin was very effective though and he remains a quality overseas signing.

Paceman Eathan Bosch, who had taken 21 wickets in the first two seasons, could only manage six in eight matches this time around.

Players with distinguished T20 records like Rilee Rossouw and Liam Livingstone were major disappointments. Captain Rossouw had a horror season, scoring only 32 runs in six innings, and by the last week of the tournament, he had been axed as skipper. Marquee signing Livingstone scored just 49 runs in three innings.

But Trott, who has enjoyed wonderful success with Afghanistan, seems up for the challenge of turning the Pretoria Capitals’ fortunes around. The franchise were runners-up under Graham Ford in the first season of the SA20.

“The first year as coach, you’re just trying to build relationships. We’ve had quite an influx of overseas players leaving, local players coming in and out; there’s been a huge turnover of players [20 this season alone]. But it’s a fun challenge, it’s part of being a coach and I’ve enjoyed it,” Trott said.

I don’t normally like to ascribe too much importance to the toss, but there is no doubt Western Province calling correctly on the first morning of the CSA 4-Day Series final against the Central Gauteng Lions at the Wanderers has turned out to be a big advantage for the visitors.

Having sent the Lions in to bat in heavily overcast conditions, WP backed it up with excellent bowling and an astonishing first 100 minutes saw the hosts crash to 35 for five. That the Lions eventually made it to 225 all out was thanks to fringe player Delano Potgieter showing what a useful cricketer he is by scoring 81, and their batting depth as the left-hander shared crucial partnerships with Wiaan Mulder (41) and Codi Yusuf (34).

Despite the rearguard action, WP were in no mood to allow the initiative to slip and Eddie Moore capped a great day for the Capetonians with a dominating 35 not out off 31 balls that took them to 49 without loss at stumps.

To be fair, it was not just a case of winning the toss and bowling first and dominating for WP. With the weather forecast predicting very hot weather and the pitch likely to dry out and crack (there was turn on day one for Kyle Simmonds), batting last will be tough as well. WP captain Kyle Verreynne admitted the decision was difficult when he said at the toss: “I was going to bat first but when I saw the floodlights were on I decided to bowl.”

There was a tinge of green on the pitch on the first morning and, with the overhead conditions, there was swing on offer. But credit to the WP bowlers, especially Dane Paterson, who found exactly the right areas of prime real estate on the pitch to cause major problems for the Lions top-order.

Paterson turns 35 in little over a month, but he does not look like retirement is on his horizon. And, after all, he has just returned from playing Test cricket for the Proteas in New Zealand, taking three for 39 in the second Test as South African gained a first-innings lead in Hamilton.

Lions openers Josh Richards and Dominic Hendricks seemed to have negotiated the first five-and-a-half overs comfortably enough, but then Paterson struck.

Richards found himself across his stumps and trapped lbw by an inswinger and the next delivery had Zubayr Hamza caught in the slips via a loose drive that seemed more appropriate for a game of garden cricket than a prestige final.

At the end of his next over, Paterson claimed the considerable scalp of the regular Proteas Test captain, Temba Bavuma, for a two-ball duck. Having survived the hat-trick ball, Bavuma could not have done much more with his second delivery, defending compactly on off-stump, but a beautiful away-swinger moved just enough to find the edge and wicketkeeper Verreynne took a fine one-handed catch diving in front of first slip.

Captain Hendricks survived for the first 45 minutes, before edging Beuran Hendricks to Verreynne and when Ryan Rickelton (9) edged Mihlali Mpongwana into the slips playing a loose punch outside off-stump when a leave would have been better in that situation, the Lions top-order had folded quicker than the origami world champion.

Mulder, enjoying a marvellous season with the bat, helped Potgieter to restore some balance, adding 77 for the sixth wicket before he also edged Mpongwana into the slips.

When Bjorn Fortuin, trying an overly-ambitious drive, was caught behind in the same over, the Lions had crashed to 112 for seven. But Potgieter played an inspired innings, his 81 coming off just 106 deliveries with 12 fours and a six.

His aggression paid off and his determination kept the Lions in the game, especially since the sun came out in the afternoon and batting definitely is becoming easier, at least until the back end of this five-day match.

The last pair of Malusi Siboto (32) and Tshepo Moreki (8*) then sat in for over an hour to stretch the total towards respectability.

All-rounder Mpongwana eventually ended the innings to finish with four for 41 in 15 overs, an admirable foil for Paterson, who finished with outstanding figures of 16-8-31-5.

With Moore and Tony de Zorzi (12*) then starting the WP innings so well, in terms of dominant positions, the visitors are definitely enjoying a front-seater.

There has obviously not been too much to get excited about lately in terms of South African batsmanship, but the Central Gauteng Lions are showing that there is perhaps light at the end of the tunnel.

They clinched the One-Day Cup title shortly before the New Year with the most powerful of batting displays in the final at the Wanderers – amassing 358/5 to beat Western Province by 62 runs.

It was no one-off either – the Lions won seven of their eight games in the 50-over competition thanks to their batting. Their top seven all averaged over 40 and the lowest strike-rate was the 78.62 of opening batsman Josh Richards, who generally played the anchor role.

Ryan Rickelton was the leading run-scorer in the tournament with 452, 91 ahead of Tristan Stubbs; while Evan Jones, the finisher, averaged 148 with a strike-rate of 149.

But beyond just the sheer scale of the numbers, what was just as impressive about the Lions’ batting effort was the clear growth that was evident in all of their individual games. It was not that long ago that the Gauteng batting line-up was considered too top-heavy for white-ball cricket, while last season it was their top-order that struggled.

Coach Wandile Gwavu and his assistants deserve great credit, and Gwavu said there was a moment in the final when they were able to ponder and appreciate just how far they have come.

“I was actually having a conversation with Ryan Rickelton and Wiaan Mulder during the game and we were admiring the growth in individual games that we were seeing. We spoke about how much everyone had invested in the growth of their own technical games and as human beings,” Gwavu told The Citizen.

“What’s stood out for me in the last four years has been how the batsmen have learnt to understand their games and their roles.

“And we’ve also mastered how to play at the Wanderers, the majority of our six hundreds were scored there. We’ve got to know our own conditions and how to dominate, the batsmen make sure they stand up and be matchwinners. If it’s difficult to bat there for other people, then we have the inside lane.

“Last season when we won the tournament the bowlers dominated for us, but this year was the opportunity for the batsmen to step up. Last season we were always three down for nothing, so it shows we have adapted.

“Especially batting against spin, which has often been a Lions problem. This season it was a stand-out how we played spin away from home – neutralising the likes of George Linde at Newlands, Prenelan Subrayen at Kingsmead and the Warriors attack in Gqeberha,” Gwavu said.

The bowling effort was also special, however. Spinner Bjorn Fortuin and seamers Malusi Siboto, Wiaan Mulder, Lutho Sipamla and Sisanda Magala were just a relentless unit. Magala, who is almost always bowling in the powerplay, was the most expensive of the quintet, going for 6.30 runs-per-over, but he was the leading wicket-taker with 17 in seven matches.

Fortuin and Siboto, who took 12 wickets along with Sipamla, both conceded less than five runs an over.

“Our attack took every opportunity to put the opposition under pressure,” Gwavu said. “There are a lot of good players in that attack, but they all had very clear bowling roles and responsibilities. We were very particular about which players we used in which conditions.

“The standout for me was how we bowled at the death. I knew we could take wickets, but we were also always very calm in our execution,” Gwavu said.

The coach said another mistake fixed this season was one of his own. Although the Lions had a clear core of first-choice players, other squad members, like Tladi Bokako, Duanne Olivier and Liam Alder, were mixed into that

“I made the mistake in the T20 competition of playing the same team all the time, so that was also one of the learnings,” Gwavu said. “You only know how good players are if you give them more opportunity.

“You’re never going to win a competition with just 11 players because you always have injuries or someone off-form. You need to be able to shift players around.

“Dominic Hendricks [the captain] managed it all very well on the field as well,” Gwavu said.

Loftus Versfeld is becoming a very difficult place to visit in the United Rugby Championship and, with the addition of more than 19 000 spectators at the weekend, it was too much for the quality Ulster side to handle as they were blown away 34-16 by the Bulls.

Coach Jake White made a point of thanking the spectators who were right behind a Bulls side who were in a destructive mood in the second half as they turned a 9-3 deficit around with four tries.

“Thank you to the 19 000 who came to the stadium, we like to play in front of our crowd. It was new pressure for me because imagine if we’d lost, but thankfully we won with a bonus point.

“Hopefully we will see more big numbers at our games in the coming weeks. It was unbelievable and there’s no question we played better with spectators behind us.

“It was like a genuine Test match and we were never going to run away with things in the first half, but to score four tries in the second half was fantastic.

“It was not the case that our play in the first half was not good, it was just that they strangled us. We had to find a way to get out of that and the message to the players was to just play, to not stand back,” White said.

While the Bulls produced some superb attacking play in the second half, White also praised the hard work done in defence and in the set-pieces for doing the groundwork for the impressive victory.

“The cornerstone of our game is good defence and set-pieces and if you get those right then you will win more games than you lose,” White said.

“Our defence was outstanding, we defended our like with all our worth, but we also scrummed well and in the lineout we had things like Ruan Nortje turning over an Ulster throw near our line.

“Our attack was very good too, we opened them up at times and Kurt-Lee Arendse was outstanding. We’ve got a good backline now and they showed that they understand how Ulster defend.

“It was hard and physical for our forwards, but jeez, our backs played well. Guys like Harold Vorster and Madosh Tambwe are playing phenomenal rugby,” White enthused.