Migael Pretorius put in a Player of the Match performance as Pretoria Capitals claimed a bonus-point win against Joburg Super Kings in Centurion.

Pretoria Capitals hosted the Joburg Super Kings in a game that the host side had to win to keep their dream of staying in the third edition of the competition alive.

Kyle Verreynne captained the Capitals in the absence of Rilee Rossouw who did not play due to the birth of his child. The Capitals won the toss and elected to bowl first.

Initially, the wicket didn’t seem to be as bouncy of a track as the match against the Sunrisers a few weeks ago, however, the ball seemed to move off the pitch for the seamers and was ” skiddy” which occasionally rushed some of the batters through their shots.

The Johannesburg Super Kings struggled and reached a total of 99 runs for 9 wickets at the end of their 20 overs. Only three batters scored above 10. Aside from Du Plessis’ failed ramp shot, the majority of the batters got out to good fielding and excellent pressure applied from the bowling side.

The notable performer for the Super Kings during the first innings was English batter Johnny Bairstow who scored 30 runs off 32 balls. Wickets regularly tumbled around him. Unfortunately, he got out to a ball from Migael Pretorius that pitched outside off and jagged back into middle stump.

The Capitals bowled consistently well throughout the first innings which restricted the Super Kings to an overall run rate of just 4.50 at the end of their 20 overs.

Gideon Peters (who made his debut for the Capitals) took 2 wickets for 15 runs at the end of his 4 overs and seemed to consistently bowl between 135-143 km/h throughout his spell. The 25-year-old who currently plays for the North-West Dragons picked up the prize scalps of Devon Conway (who got given out after the Capitals successfully reviewed the on-field decision) and picked up Moeen Ali by LBW just two balls later.

Migael Pretorius also performed well by picking up 3 wickets for just 22 runs at the end of his 4-over spell. Aside from the ball that got Bairstow, he dismissed Hardus Viljoen by getting him caught and bowled (for 2 runs off 10 balls). He also got Imran Tahir out caught by Tom Rogers for just 4 runs off 7 balls.

Senuran Muthusammy also performed well by getting 2 wickets for just 15 runs off 3 overs. Eathan Bosch took an excellent catch on the leg-side boundary to help him obtain his first wicket of Wihan Lubbe whilst Will Smeed caught Super Kings All-Rounder Evan Jones.

The Capitals were required to score 100 runs at the end of their 20 overs to win the match.

The wicket continued to prove to be difficult to consistently score runs off during the Capitals’ second innings. After hitting Ali and Sipamla for sixes, Jacks got out caught behind by Bairstow off the bowling of Sipamla. He had scored 15 runs off 9 balls.

Fellow Englishman Will Smeed fell shortly afterwards by getting caught at cover off the bowling of Hardus Viljoen. He had scored just 7 runs off 9 balls. At this stage of the match, the Capitals were 39 runs for the loss of 2 wickets.

The in-form South African batter Marques Ackerman joined the captain Kyle Verreynne at the wicket. He started off by successfully driving and pulling Lutho Sipamla for two fours. In the 8th over Ackerman also successfully cover-drived and pulled Pathirana for two consecutive fours.

Prior to getting out he also successfully pulled Hardus Viljoen for six over the leg-side boundary. Sipamla eventually got him out caught on the deep fine-leg boundary by Hardus Viljoen. Ackerman ended with a score of 39 runs off 21 balls to effectively win the match for the Capitals.

From a bowling standpoint, Lutho Sipamla was an outstanding performer for the Joburg Super Kings. He ended the match with figures of 3 wickets (out of a total of 4 that was taken in the whole innings) for just 26 runs off his 4 overs. Similarly to his performance at the Wanderers on Sunday, he continued to change his length and used appropriate variations to keep his side in the match.

Although some good catches were taken during the second innings, I felt that the Super Kings could have fielded a lot better than they did. There was a dropped catch on the boundary (where Ackerman was the batter) and the odd misfield which I felt allowed the Capitals to stay ahead. If the Super Kings are to advance further and potentially win the competition, they need to maintain their usual high fielding standards.

The Capitals successfully scored 100 runs with 4 wickets down at the end of 12 overs to successfully win the match. The win has resulted in the Capitals moving within one point of the Super Kings and consequently within one point of a playoff spot.