Super Kings reign supreme as Joburg finally gets a taste T20 competition

After watching all the host cities of the Betway SA20 get thrilled by the entertaining T20 competition, Johannesburg finally got a taste of it yesterday as it came to the Wanderers Stadium. 

When walking through the Wanderers entrance gates, one wouldn't have said that it was a working day and the school calendar had just begun; with the food, merchandise stalls and bars buzzing, a day boring like Tuesday suddenly had the feel of a Saturday.

The crowd flocked to the famous Wanderers which is also known as the Bullring, keeping up with the standard set in the competition. The Wanderers houses 28,000 people, and 16,424 people from Johannesburg came out to witness their favoured Joburg Super Kings take on the Pretoria Capitals.

With dark clouds hovering, there were fears that rain may intercept the day's action and try to take the spotlight off the players. However, that was not the case as the sky suddenly turned blue with 15 minutes left until the 5.30pm start. 

Capitals captain Wayne Parnell won the toss and chose to bowl first, meaning Super Kings skipper Faf du Plessis and Reeza Hendricks would open the batting. They were responsible for building the innings in what seemed to be a wicket that suited the seamers. 

They managed to navigate their way through attacks from Eathan Bosch, Parnell, Anrich Nortje and Adil Rashid. Du Plessis and Hendricks put on 43 runs in the Power Play. They added two more runs to their partnership before it was dismantled by Nortje. The Proteas bowled a bouncer to Du Plessis, who smashed it to Will Jacks at square leg, the Super Kings skipper went out for 27. 

With Du Plessis gone, the innings then became important for Hendricks, he needed a big showing as he had failed to kick on in the SA20. Hendricks was joined by Leus du Plooy in the crease, the two looked determined to accelerate the innings. They reached 50 runs in their partnership in 36 Balls by the 14th over with Super Kings 95 for 1.

The partnership threatened to take the game away as it was on 73 by the 16th. Up stepped Capitals talisman Nortje who got the wicket of Hendricks for 45, he was caught by Migael Pretorius, leaving with the score at 118 for 2.

Du Plooy then took it upon himself to be the glue of the Super Kings' innings, the 28-year-old batsman played superbly on the tough wicket. As wickets around him stumbled, he stood firm, hitting 75 runs from 40 balls not out as the Super Kings posted a total of 168 for 6 after 20 overs. For the Capitals, the pick of the bowlers was Bosch who got three scalps, which included that the moment of the match, a one-hand catch from Will Jacks to remove Gerald Coetzee. Parnell got the other wicket.

The Capitals needed 169 to win and their response began with much promise as openers Phil Salt and Jacks knocked 30 runs in two overs, their momentum was stopped by West Indies  Alzarri Joseph, who bowled out Jacks (16) with the first ball of the third over, hitting the off stump, with the following ball he took out Rilee Rossouw. With the score 30-2, the Capitals were in trouble as Theunis de Bruyn came on.

Joseph was on a hat-trick ball, the Wanderers faithful cheered him on as he went after De Bruyn but he was hit for four. De Bruyn and Salt proved vital as the Capitals ended the Power Play after six overs on 57 for 2 ahead by 14 runs. 

With momentum with the Capitals, Du Plessis sent spinner Aaron Phangiso to slow things down, instead, he got the wicket of Salt (29). The veteran spinner then delivered the next wicket trapping De Bruyn (18) with a leg before wicket (lbw) with the score at 72-4.

Shane Dadswell and James Neesham wanted to build the innings and take it home, however Phangiso took out Dadswell for 22 from 13 balls. Bosch then went to the crease for the Capitals looking to partner with Neesham as the Super Kings slowed down the run rate significantly.

In the 14th over, Neesham incredibly hit Phangiso for three sixes with the opening three balls, with the fourth ball of the over Phangiso got him out as he hit the wickets, ending his spell with four wickets for 32 runs.

Capitals skipper Parnell joined Bosch and looked to steer the team from trouble. The duo managed to put on a 30-run partnership before it was broken by Gerald Coetzee who bowled out Bosch. Pretorius then came on with the Capitals needing 23 runs from 14 balls. With two overs left in the innings, the visitors needed 21 from 12 balls, and the Super Kings needed to defend it. 

Skipper Du Plessis sent Joseph to bowl the second-last over, he went for five runs in the opening four balls and then there was a lifeline as confusion between Parnell and Pretorius led to the latter's runout by Du Plessis and Kyle Verreynne. Rashid came on and hit a six with the last ball of the 19th over. going to the last over, the Pretoria side needed 10 runs to win, and Romario Shepard was tasked with preventing them from reaching it. 

Shepard managed to do that as he restricted the Capitals to just three runs and a wicket of Rashid with the catch by Du Plessis getting roars. The Super Kings won the match by six runs, giving the home fans something to smile about.