Home discomforts spell trouble for Joburg Super Kings on big weekend

From playoff spots, to claiming a top-two position on the log, there is plenty at stake for five of the six SA20 teams heading into the final round of league play this weekend. 

Friday evening’s encounter between the Paarl Royals and Sunrisers Eastern Cape is the first leg of a double-header between the two teams which will decide who gets to play the Durban Super Giants in the first eliminator in Cape Town next Tuesday. The teams face off again in Gqeberha on Sunday.

However, it is Saturday’s matches which will decide the fate of three teams. With Durban, Paarl and the Eastern Cape assured of their playoff berths, the remaining teams are playing for the last spot. 

In Saturday’s first match, MI Cape Town host the Pretoria Capitals, fresh off a pulsating win in Centurion on Thursday where there was plenty of niggle between players, most of it engineered by Capitals captain Wayne Parnell. 

Though Cape Town ultimately ran out comfortable victors by 34 runs, they were denied a crucial bonus point thanks to a glorious century by Kyle Verreynne that set a new record for the highest individual score in the tournament. 

Verreynne said preventing Cape Town from picking up that bonus point felt like a win. MI Cape Town moved to 13 points, the same as Joburg Super Kings, the other team chasing that final playoff berth. That leaves them three points ahead of the Capitals who prop up the table, but who with a win on Saturday can leapfrog Cape Town into fourth place. 

“I guess it’s pretty cool for the neutral and people who love ‘non-pointless’ cricket,” Verreynne chirped ahead of his return to what is normally his home ground. “If we win (at Newlands) we could still end up winning the competition, so there is still a lot to be excited about.”

Some of the tetchiness in evidence Thursday will certainly still be bubbling beneath the surface, which will add to the drama at Newlands. 

However, regardless of the outcome in that match, the winners will quickly focus their attention on the 5.30pm start at the Wanderers, where the inconsistent Super Kings face the table-topping Super Giants. 

For the Durban side, the outcome doesn’t matter because they’ve already secured their spot in the first eliminator on Tuesday. The loser of that match of course gets a second bite of the cherry in the final eliminator which will be hosted at the Wanderers next Thursday, underlining the importance of finishing in the top two. 

For the Super Kings, their future in this season’s tournament is on the line. Home ground would usually be an advantage but in the case of the Joburg outfit, the opposite has held true. 

“What we’ve struggled with is to really understand the nature of each surface we are playing on, and to get the best out of your home territory you have to be in sync with that,” said Super Kings head coach Stephen Fleming.

Last year the Super Kings rode their excellent home form to secure a top-four berth, but the Wanderers, which assisted spin in 2023, is offering up a bag of liquorice all sorts this season. “Last year it was slowish, this year it was starting to get a few characteristics back of the old Wanderers, but it’s still somewhere in between,” said Fleming.

“We don’t know each day what we are going to get. We can’t use that as an excuse but it is playing a part in us being a little uncertain at home.”