League leaders Pretoria Capitals got off to a good start to their first SA20 season with a comfortable win over the Durban Super Giants at Kingsmead, earning bonus points. A good bowling attack by the visitors saw Durban score a tournament-lowest score of his 80, but then Will his Jax took the half-century by storm and took a goal from 7.4 overs.
By the way, Supergiants skipper Quinton de Kok chose to hit first in conditions that he expected momentum and seams to come. The pitch was also a little sticky and provided grip. Ultimately, however, the hosts were unable to produce a competitive score late in the inning to meet all these challenges. Things went downhill when Wayne Parnell caught Kyle Mayers on the first ball of the game.
Durban were 3 for 20 by his four overs and Parnell added another opener of his, Weirne Mulder, and Henrich Notrje, who cleaned up his cock. A brief resistance ensued as top run getters of the tournament, Heinrich Klaessen and Jason Holder, attempted to rebuild, but the Capitals unleashed a spinner and wreaked havoc. Senuran Moussami sacked Holder, Christian Jonker and Dwayne Pretorius while Adil Rashid Klaasen was sacked for 31. When Nortje and Eastan Bosch returned to wipe their tails, it was the final nail in Durban’s coffin. Mayers made up for his first-ball layoff by picking up an inform fill salt from the first two balls, but never turned back from such a batting show. A man, Will Jacks, set boundaries on the host and threatened to end the chase with PowerPlay. Jax took five fours and four sixes and finished with a 25-ball 56 that landed him at the top of the line. But at the end of such a dominating performance, the Capitals couldn’t deny him a bonus point.
Brief scores: Durban Super Giants 80 in 18.1 overs (Senuran Muthusamy 3-12, Eathan Bosch 2-10, Wayne Parnell 2-12, Anrich Nortje 2-15) lost to Pretoria Capitals 84/2 in 7.4 overs (Will Jacks 56, Theunis de Bruyn 21*; Kyle Mayers 1-12) by eight wickets