Match in a Glimpse:
Phil Salt, Wayne Parnell, Jimmy Neesham and Anrich Nortje starred for Pretoria Capitals in their opening match of the inaugural season of SA20. We defeated Sunrisers Eastern Cape Town by 23 runs to clinch our first win on the road.
A Rain-Interrupted Start:
We travelled to Gqeberha for their first-ever SA20 match to go up against Sunrisers Eastern Cape Town. Home captain Aiden Markram won the toss and chose to bowl first. We fielded a strong Playing XI.
The swashbuckling English duo of Phil Salt and Will Jacks opened the batting. Unfortunately, Marco Jansen got the better off Jacks who edged a length delivery in the first over. Rilee Rossouw started the proceedings with a four of his first ball, however, he struggled against Sisanda Magala who scalped his wicket.
Phil Salt found fine touch for the Pitori with Theunis De Bruyn joining the party before the match was halted due to rain. We lost our third wicket after play resumed when De Bruyn fell to a ripper delivery by Ottniel Baartman before rain interrupted play once again. We ended the powerplay with 57/3.
Salt’s Heroics Steady the Ship:
In what seemed like a roller-coaster innings for us, Phil Salt’s unbeaten knock of 77 off 47 balls powered us to 193/6 in our quota of 20 overs. He was ably assisted by Jimmy Neesham who played a handy innings of 37 off 28 balls before the Kiwi was dismissed by Baartman who grabbed his second of the night.
However, skipper Wayne Parnell took matters into his hands, speeding to 29 off 9 ensuring that we finished strong and put on a remarkable total to defend.
Early Wickets Bring the Breakthrough:
After an explosive hand performance with the bat, Parnell scalped a wicket with his first ball of the second innings.
Anrich Nortje came into the attack and dismissed Jordan Cox with a back of a length knuckle-ball that was misread by the Sunrisers Eastern Cape Town batter. Furthermore, Jimmy Neesham displayed his all-round masterclass by forcing Sunrisers’ captain Aiden Markram to mistime a shot before the South African could unleash fireworks.
Playing at his home ground, Anrich Nortje doubled his wicket count by cleaning up the dangerous Tristan Stubbs before the Sunrisers’ star could find his signature touch.
Roaring Saam More in the Slog Overs:
JJ Smuts emerged as a threat during the chase smashing 66 runs off 51 balls before he was dismissed by Adil Rashid with Eathan Bosch making no mistake at backward point. Tom Abell’s menacing 40 off 24 balls seemed to swing the game in favour of our opponents at one point.
In true Pitori spirit, we Roared Saam More to secure a 23-run win over the Sunrisers and seal all four points.
The Road Ahead:
Backed by this comfortable victory on away soil, we head back home to Centurion to face off against the Sunrisers in the reverse fixture on January 14. We look forward to replicating our Friday night performance in front of our home crowd.
Brief Scores:
Pretoria Capitals: 193/6 (20), Salt - 77* (47), Neesham - 37 (28), Parnell - 29* (9), Markram - 2/17, Baartman - 2/45 defeated Sunrisers Eastern Cape: 170/5 (20), Smutts - 66 (51), Abell - 40* (24), Fuller - 27* (12), Nortje - 2/18, Parnell - 1/38, Neesham - 1/38
Player of the Match: Phil Salt
