EXPLAINER: Why Capitals, Super Kings will swap home grounds for SA20 semi-finals

Both the Pretoria Capitals and the Joburg Super Kings wanted to swap their SA20 semi-finals around so they could play in front of their home crowds, but the other teams in the league refused, saying the knockout games should go ahead where scheduled, according to franchise insiders.

SA20 officials confirmed on Tuesday that the Pretoria Capitals will play against the team that finishes fourth on the log in the semi-final at the Wanderers on Wednesday, while Joburg Super Kings will make the short trip to Centurion on Thursday to play the side that finishes third. Both semi-finals start at 5.30pm.

Pretoria Capitals will finish top of the standings regardless of the outcome of their match against the Paarl Royals on Tuesday evening, because they already have more bonus points (3) than the Super Kings (1), who joined them on 27 points following their bonus point win over MI Cape Town at the Wanderers on Monday night.

Double advantage

As long as the Paarl Royals avoid defeat on Tuesday night they will finish third and play Joburg Super Kings in the semis. If they lose to the Capitals though, then they have to make sure the defeat is not heavy enough to cause their nett run-rate (0.04) to slip below that of Durban Super Giants (-0.31).

Sunrisers Eastern Cape have already qualified for the semi-finals and neither them nor Paarl nor Durban were willing to swap their possible semi-final venues. No doubt they wanted to ensure Joburg and Pretoria did not receive a double advantage, not only playing on the Highveld but also in front of their home crowd.

Pre-allocated venues

The decision to pre-allocate the knockout venues was made for logistical reasons and is the same policy as the Indian Premier League employs.

Newlands, St George’s Park and Boland Park in Paarl are busy preparing for the Women’s T20 World Cup and are unavailable.

With the round-robin only finishing on Tuesday night and the first semi-final on Wednesday, it would be impossible to only know then where the semi-finals, which take weeks of planning, are being held.

As it is, staff have been working through the night at the Wanderers to ensure the ground is ready for their semi-final on Wednesday, and then they will have to get everything prepared again for the final on Saturday.

SA20 Commissioner Graeme Smith told The Citizen on Tuesday that the tournament would switch to an eliminator format next season where the team that tops the log plays the team that finishes second, with the winners automatically going through to the final. The third and fourth-placed sides then play off to join the losers of the 1 v 2 game to decide the other finalists.

That seems better for a six-team league, given that the fourth-placed side could get one lucky game and knock out runaway leaders at the top in this year’s format.

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