Pretoria Capitals beat Royals, qualify for SA20 final

The Pretoria Capitals bowlers shared the wickets between them as they bowled the Paarl Royals out for 124 to secure a 29-run win in their SA20 semifinal at the Wanderers on Wednesday night.

Defending just 154, Pretoria needed to strike often and their bowlers did the job through the Paarl Royals innings.

Eathan Bosch (4-0-22-2) provided the perfect start as he had Jason Roy (0) caught at extra cover off the second ball of the innings and then zipped a delivery through Jos Buttler, bowling the great limited-overs star middle-stump for 13.

Pretoria stranglehold

Paul Stirling gave Paarl a good powerplay though, bashing 21 off 14 balls, but the introduction of Adil Rashid’s leg-spin saw him trapped lbw and the England star then bowled Dane Vilas (18) with a ragging googly in his next over, finishing with 2/15 in his three overs.

That brought Paarl captain David Miller to the crease, but no-one could stay with him long enough to break the Pretoria stranglehold.

Jimmy Neesham (3-0-19-2) removed Evan Jones (0) and Andile Phehlukwayo (14), to a fine boundary catch by Colin Ingram, and it was left to Anrich Nortje (4-1-29-2) to wrap up the innings in the 19th over.
Miller was the last man to fall, for 31 off 27 balls, Ingram taking an even better catch running around the long-on boundary.

Rossouw finds form

Part-time off-spinner Rilee Rossouw had also played a crucial role by removing Eoin Morgan for 17, and it was his brilliant 56 off 41 balls that carried Pretoria Capitals to their defendable total of 153/8 after they were sent in to bat.

The log-leaders found it difficult to get going and slipped to 51/3 in the ninth over as spinners Bjorn Fortuin (4-0-24-1) and Tabraiz Shamsi (4-0-19-2) put them under pressure. It was difficult to play strokes on a sticky pitch that made driving tough and the cross-batted shots difficult because there was steep bounce, as well as sharp turn.

But Rossouw adapted to the conditions and the match situation tremendously well. He reverse-swept Shamsi first ball and always seemed in control, before getting out in the penultimate over.

Eathan Bosch struck a crucial 22 off 10 balls lower down the order as he and Rossouw added 42 off 23 balls for the sixth wicket to provide some vital impetus.

Phehlukwayo (4-0-29-3) also bowled extremely well to keep chipping away at the Capitals.

The Pretoria Capitals can now look forward to watching Thursday’s semi-final at their home ground in Centurion between the in-form Joburg Super Kings and Sunrisers Eastern Cape to decide who they will play in Saturday’s final at the Wanderers.