On a slow track at the Boland Park in Paarl, which was expected to get slower under the beating of the afternoon, the Pretoria Capitals’ captain, Rilee Rossouw, decided to send the Paarl Royals’ batters in. It was one of the hardest starts for the side as they lost their aggressive batter, Lhuan-dre-Pretorius, on the third ball of the clash against the part-time off-spin of Will Jacks as the spin spun away from the batter.
Paarl Royals lost the number three batter, Rubin Hermann, who made nine off 14 deliveries. They could have found themselves under the bus losing Joe Root, who pulled the short ball straight into the hands of Jimmy Neesham at square leg. But the latter was found to have dropped the ball in a controversial decision while he was celebrating.
Wickets kept on falling from one end, but the former England captain, Joe Root, stood like a rock and finished on an unbeaten 78 runs in 56 balls with the help of eight boundaries and a couple of sixes at the strike rate of around 140. The captain of the side, David Miller, made a huge difference in the contest with his quickfire knock of 29 runs in 18 runs at a strike rate of over 160, with the help of two sixes and one boundary.
At the halfway mark, Paarl Royals were satisfied with their batting performance. It increased as they lost three wickets inside the powerplay, including the captain and Rahmanullah Gurbaz, scoring at below four.
Paarl Royals becomes the first franchise to bowl 20 overs of spin
The first innings showed how tough batting was against the spinners, and the Paarl Royals didn’t install any pacer in their entire 20 overs. They went with the left-arm spin of Bjorn Fortuin and Dunith Wellalage in the powerplay before bringing Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Nqabayomzi Peter. Root was their fifth bowling option in the department and picked up two wickets.
They were able to keep the Capitals on 129/7 in their allotted 20 overs to claim an 11-run victory to become the first team to qualify for the SA20 playoffs. This was the very first instance of a team using no fast bowler in their entire 20 innings.
The local boy, Fortuin, reckoned that the secret to success in these conditions is to slow things down, something which they followed even during their victory against Johannesburg Super Kings earlier this week.
“We’ve played here quite a bit now, so I’ve sort of tailored a lot of my game plan towards playing in conditions like this. I wouldn’t quite call it subcontinent conditions, but it lends itself towards that type of game plan.” Bjorn of Paarl Royals expressed last week.
“Keeping things simple is a big part of doing well here. In the past, we’ve had quite explosive players. Sometimes they come off, sometimes they don’t. This season, there’s been a lot more consistency, and playing well at home contributes to that.” The veteran, who has played all the franchise games related to this venue, has highlighted.
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In the past, during the Indian Premier League (IPL), the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have used their four spinners in the attack for 16 overs. The teams have set up to deliver these attacks in home conditions like the Guyana Amazon Warriors of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) had done in the past.
Paarl Royals have gone a step forward. They will face Durban Super Giants on January 27 at the same ground, which will be their last group-stage encounter at home. They will then fly to Johannesburg and Gqeberha to face the Super Kings and Eastern Cape.