Phil Salt’s unbeaten 77 was the basis for Pretoria Capitals’ victory over Sunrisers Eastern Cape in the SA20 clash in Gqeberha on Thursday (12/1). Salt fought through the Capitals’ innings to lead the team to a competitive total of 193, but was pushed out of reach by the Sunrisers by a heavy spell from Anrich Nolce.
Salt put together a wobbly Capitals inning after being upset early on after being put at bat. Marco Jansen knocked out Will Jax in the first over, and Sisanda Magala attacked in the next to eliminate the dangerous Lily Rosou, making it 14/2. The Capitals’ innings were then punctuated by two brief rains, but it was the bowling side that lost momentum and the visitors noted that with his PowerPlay he was able to blow up to 57/3. rice field. Undaunted by the early defeat, Salt moved up to 23 of 13, with Magala, Ottoniel Bartman and James Fuller each reaching their limits.
Salt had to deal with another double strike at middle over as Aiden Markram first removed a struggling Senurin Moussamy and then Shane Doswell deflected the first ball. However, at 80/5 in ten overs, Salt joined experienced James Niesham and the pair tried to stop the slide, the latter dropping anchor and allowing Salt to continue racing up the scoreboard.
This British player has only managed his 29 pitches in half a century. Niesham, on the other hand, accelerated from a slow start, hitting four fours and sixes before dropping to a useful 37 in 18 overs. At this point, the Capitals were still on track for a total under 180 before Wayne Parnell smashed out three sixes and two fours on a 29* nine-ball knock.
A late surge meant Sunrisers had to chase at least 15 more people than they looked to keep the resistance down.As Sarell Erwie went down, Parnell had the momentum to shoot on the first ball. I ran with Norce then sacked Jordan Cox at Wicketmaid to hold off the chase, but it was further shaken when Niesham got Mark Lamb. After 8 overs, Sunrisers lost 3 wickets with only 36 on the board. Tristan Stubbs and Smuts added 28 in two overs to turn the momentum around, but Norce chased the hosts back with a 151 mph performance that knocked Stubbs off the pole. That was practically the end of Sunriser’s push, with Tom Abell (40/24) and James Fuller (27/12) playing good hands to match his 66 on Smuts. However, the Sunrisers took on too much in the second half for Hunt, and in the end he fell far behind until 23:00.
Brief scores: Pretoria Capitals 193/6 in 20 overs (Phil Salt 77*, Wayne Parnell 29*; Aiden Markram 2-17) beat Sunrisers Eastern Cape 170/5 in 20 overs (JJ Smuts 66, Tom Abell 40*; Anrich Nortje 2-18) by 23 runs.