Pretoria Capitals coach Graham Ford: ‘We need to stay switched on’

There was tremendous excitement this week when the great Jacques Kallis was videoed batting in the Pretoria Capitals nets, but with everything going splendidly thus far for Graham Ford’s team in the SA20, they don’t really need South Africa’s most prolific all-rounder just yet.

The 47-year-old Kallis is, of course, retired and last played serious cricket in 2016. But he does still play on the masters circuit, hence his net session as he took a break from his duties as assistant coach.

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And the Pretoria Capitals have been masters of the SA20 so far, winning five of their seven matches and leading the standings by a healthy margin, with a game in hand on their rivals, heading into Saturday’s return to action against MI Cape Town in Centurion.

“Every game of T20 is a major challenge because we know how unpredictable it can be. But we’ve had a reasonably consistent run, which is nice,” Ford told The Citizen.

“But there’s still a heck of a lot of action ahead and hopefully we will be switched on again. The team has gelled nicely together and we’ve ensured good starts and good finishes both bowling and batting.

“You then just need to fill in in-between, and if your big guns come off then you can beat anyone. There has been a togetherness in the team, they’ve focused on the game-plan.

“You also need flexibility in your squad to adjust to conditions, the win in Cape Town was really special and we played extremely well in Durban,” Ford said.

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Two of those big guns have been Will Jacks and Anrich Nortje, with their ability to express mail the ball out the ground or down the pitch and into the stumps.

Jacks was a revelation in forming a highly-successful opening partnership with Phil Salt, Pretoria enjoying the best first powerplay in the league.

Nortje has taken 13 wickets, the second-most in the competition, and has an economy rate of 6.11, the best of all the fast bowlers.

“Will and Phil have been brilliant, fantastic chaps and great ambassadors for English cricket,” Ford said. “We had our eye on both of them before the auction, we’d done our homework.

“Their starts have certainly been so important, they’ve set the tone. Colin Ingram has now been signed for Will, because he’s been called up for England’s Test squad, and will fit in really well, probably in the middle.

“The attack has done exceptionally well and the extra pace that Anrich brings has been amazing. The opposition are always concerned about when he will bowl and what damage he will do.

“I also can’t say enough about Jimmy Neesham’s contribution, he’s done helluva well with the ball and found some form with the bat. We will very much stick to what’s working, you can’t always go like hell, sometimes you have to be smart,” Ford said.