The Pretoria Capitals hosted the Sunrisers Eastern Cape at Supersport Park. The game commenced with the Capitals winning the toss and opting to bowl first up with the conditions seeming to suit the fast bowlers.

It was evident from the start that either side were desperate to win the match in order to improve their position on the log. Coming into this game the Sunrisershad lost their opening two games whilst the Capitals lost their only game in Kingsmead against the Super Giants by just two runs (the scheduled game against the Super Giants at Centurion on Sunday 12 January was rained out).

The Pretoria Capitals started off well with the ball with Eathan Bosch managing to managing to get Crawley out for 1 run off 3 balls where he got caught by Roussouw at mid-off. Shortly afterwards, Beddingham knicked off to Duavillon after he tried to advance down the wicket. Markram subsequently fell for a golden duck after hitting the ball directly to Deep-Backward Square leg off Dupavilon’s bowling. 

When Tristan Stubbs joined Tom Abell at the crease the side were 4 runs for the loss of three wickets. Stubbs offered some resistance by hitting two boundaries off Bosch and Dupavillon respectively. Unfortunately, Tom Abell became the 4^th wicket to fall during the Powerplayafter attempting to play a scoop shot off a straight length ball that crashed into off stump. Stubbs subsequently followed after mistiming a pull shot that bounced steeply and allowed Muthusammy to take a catch off the bowling of Bosch. 

Marco Jansen offered some resistance by playing a strong off drive and pull-shot to get his innings underway. Patrick Kruger got out to a brilliant piece of fielding by Muthusammy who placed his hands in front of his face to take an excellent catch off his own bowling. 

Jansen continued to show resistance by regularly finding the boundary (particularly off Dupavillon’sbowling). Jansen who initially came in when the Sunrisers were 26 for 5, managed to score 51 off 35 balls hitting four fours and three sixes. At the conclusion of his innings (where the extra bounce in the Centurion wicket got him caught pulling off the bowling of Neesham) the score was 98 for 8.The Sunrisers ended on 113 all out after 19.4 overs. 

The Capitals bowlers ended the innings with the following figures: Eathan Bosch (2 wickets for 18 runs off 4 overs), Dupavillon (3 wickets for 32 runs off 4 overs), Pretorius (1 wicket for 21 runs off 4 overs), Neesham (2 wickets for 11 runs off 3.4 overs) and Muthusammy (2 wickets for 29 runs off 4 overs).

Although 113 runs is generally considered to be a slightly below par score in T20’s, the extra bounce in the wicket combined with world class seam bowlers in the Sunrisers team indicated that it may not be as easy for the Capitals to chase the score down.

The Capitals innings got off to a quick start with Jacks driving Overton for four by piercing the gap between cover and extra-cover. Jacks followed this up by advancing down the wicket (to a ball which was angled towards leg-stump) and hitting Overton for six over cow-corner. The first over concluded with some good fortune for Jacks who luckily scored a boundary off an inside-edge to fine leg. 

After hitting Overton for six the previous ball, Gurbazadvanced down the wicket and like many batters in the first innings miss-timed the ball and got out caught by Jansen off the bowling of Overton (where he scored 7 runs off 9 balls)

Jacks had another bout of good fortune after he advanced down the wicket to Overton and top edged a ball which went over the keeper’s head for four runs. 

Verreynne got his innings underway with an excellent lap-shot for six off the bowling of Gleeson. Gleeson would ultimately have the last laugh the following ball when he dismissed Verreynne by finding the outside edge of the bat. Gleeson celebrated his wicket by standing relatively close to the departing Verreynne.

Gleeson subsequently got Jacks out by bowling a short wide delivery outside off-stump. Jacks miss-timed the ball and could find Baartman standing at third man who took the catch with relative ease. Gleeson celebrated this wicket in equal measure to his first which led to a bit of a chat in the middle between him and the departing Jacks. Jacks subsequently finished on 27 runs off 23 balls.

Rilee Roussouw came to the wicket with the Capitals 49 for 3. Roussouw hit his first boundary by hitting Gleeson through mid-wicket for four. He followed this up by hitting a short-ball for six over long-leg. Unfortunately he got caught out on the boundary to a short-pitched ball (angled on his hip) where Simalane took a catch off the bowling of Baartman. Roussouw scored 12 runs off 11 balls and the side were 61 for 4 heading into the time out.

After the dismissal of Rossouw, Livingstone was joined by Marques Ackerman at the crease. Livingstone pulled a short-pitched ball from Simon Harmer for 4. Throughout the match-winning partnership, Ackerman was predominantly the aggressor. Like Jacks, Ackerman also was fortunate when he inside edged a ball for four off the bowling of Gleeson. 

At the end of the 15^th over Ackerman was on 23 runs off 24 balls whilst Livingstone was on 14 runs off 14 balls. 

The 16^th over remained an interesting battle between Ackerman and Jansen with dot balls and boundaries coming in equal frequency. Ackerman hit the second ball of the over for six over wide long on. He followed that up by hitting the second last ball of the over (a full toss) for four behind square. In order to secure a bonus-point win (with only five runs required), the Capitals had to hit the last ball of the over for a maximum. 

The innings concluded with Jansen missing his intended length of a Yorker outside off by rather bowling a ball in the slot which Ackerman hit over long on for six runs to secure the bonus point six-wicket victory with 24 balls left.

The Sunrisers bowling scorecard had the following figures: Overton (1 wicket for 33 runs off 4 overs), Jansen (1 wicket for 25 runs off 4 overs), Gleeson (2 wickets for 31 runs off 3 overs), Baartman (1 wicket for 9 runs off 3 overs) and Harmer (0 wickets for 14 runs off 2 overs).

Sunrisers captain Markram said the following about his side’s defeat, “Would like to think we are a better outfit than that. Not going to blame it on the toss. Big room for improvement (with the bat). Saw some really good stuff from the bowlers. Not the ideal day for us. (On what is going wrong) Quite hard to try and think about that now. Probably a case of T20 games coming thick and fast. When you look for form and games keep coming, it can be tough. We have some great players and hopefully we can get the job done soon. Not a big fan of issuing directives and telling guys how to play. You just want to encourage them to be their best version. If you get off to good starts, you get to good scores – those basics still apply. We will never throw the towel in, and hopefully we can start playing some good cricket.”

Capitals captain Rossouw said the following about his side’s win, “We started off really well with the ball. Experience of Livingstone at the end and Marques played an excellent knock (to take us past the line). On a tricky wicket, we wanted to take it as deep as we could and they played it really well (to get us the bonus point). We were worried about our lines and lengths (after the last game), they (the bowlers) stepped up and put it in the right areas. Credit to them. we got through today with the bonus point, hopefully they (the fans) come out and support us even more (in games to come).”

Eathan Bosch (the Capitals player who was awarded Man of the Match) said, “(On the conditions early) It was under covers, with the rain around, so trying to assess the conditions. As a bowling unit, we bowled really well today. We had a lot of chat after our first game, good to see the boys stick (to their plans). The guys were disappointed about that game (against DSG), then we had a rained-out game. Just to get a win in front of our fans…we play a lot for them and nice to get a win.”