Teams share points after SA20 matches are washed out

The Lions den at the Wanderers was turned into a paddling pool as the SA20 match between the Joburg Super Kings and the Paarl Royals was washed out by heavy rain on Friday.

The only good things to come out of the No Result were a tiny bit of relief for the national water crisis and two log points each for the Super Kings and the Royals.

Having been sent in to bat, Paarl Royals openers Jason Roy and Jos Buttler instituted a policy of all-out attack as they raced to fifty off just 21 balls, with four fours and four sixes.

Fast bowler Gerald Coetzee had been hit for sixes off his first two balls by Buttler, when he provided some relief for the Super Kings by bowling the England captain for 23 off 11 deliveries.

Smart cricket

After such a messy start, the Super Kings then played some smart cricket in the field to peg the Royals back. On a belter of a pitch, Joburg captain Faf du Plessis decided to take pace off and introduced his slow bowlers.

Read more: Fabulous Faf slams first ton of SA20 as JSK beat Super Giants

Part-time offie Donovan Ferreira did a fine job, dismissing Wihan Lubbe (12) and conceding just five runs in his two overs, while mystery spinner Maheesh Theekshana went for just 16 runs in his three overs.

The experienced Roy also showed his shrewd judgement, however, as he changed gears and made sure he batted as deep as possible while wickets fell at the other end.

Having scored 25 runs off his first 11 balls, Roy went to his fifty off 34 deliveries and reached 61 off 42 when he sent a steepling catch, well-taken by Ferreira, to extra cover off Romario Shepherd.

Read more: SA20 league – Hits and misses so far

Only one more ball was bowled, Evan Jones scoring a single to take Paarl to 131/4 after 15 overs, when a second rain delay proved fatal for the match.

What was meant to be an exciting chase for the Super Kings never materialised, and, under the rules that govern the SA20 league, Joburg and Paarl split the points.

Super Kings v Sunrisers

In the later game on Friday, the points were also shared at Kingsmead where the fixture between Durban’s Super Giants and the Sunrisers Eastern Cape was rained out.

After losing the toss and being sent in to bat, the Sunrisers lost two big wickets early in their innings with English seamer Reece Toply removing Temba Bavuma and Jordan Hermann with successive deliveries in the second over, both without scoring.

Following a rain delay, the Super Giants struck again when Wiaan Mulder had Sunrisers captain Aiden Markram caught by Simon Harmer for six runs in the fifth over.

And with the tourists struggling to get going, their innings was disrupted again when the players were forced to leave the field for rain once more.

The match was eventually abandoned due to a wet outfield, with Sunrisers opener Adam Rossington unbeaten on 35 off 18 balls and JJ Smuts on nine not out.

The Sunrisers were on 53/3 when the match was called off.