Super Kings reign at the Bullring and book semifinal berth

06 February 2023 - 22:08 By Grant Shub
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Leus du Plooy bats for the Joburg Super Kings in the Betway SA20 match against MI Cape Town at the Wanderers on February 6 2023.
Leus du Plooy bats for the Joburg Super Kings in the Betway SA20 match against MI Cape Town at the Wanderers on February 6 2023.
Image: SA20/Sportzpics/Gallo Images

The Joburg Super Kings confirmed their Betway SA20 semifinal spot with a dominant 76-run victory over MI Cape Town at the Wanderers on Monday night.

MI have lost four matches in a row and remain rooted to the foot of the log.

Their captain, Rashid Khan, won the toss on a dry wicket, baked all day by the Johannesburg sun, and decided to bowl first at the Bullring.

Former Proteas skipper Faf du Plessis, the leading scorer in the competition with 369 runs coming into the match, strode to the crease and was summarily caught first ball courtesy of a brilliant catch from Khan off the bowling of George Linde who produced a long hop that turned nastily.

Hendricks soon followed Du Plessis to the change room for a duck, as he holed out in the deep and the Super Kings were in strife at 12/2. Leus du Plooy, who plays county cricket, and Australian Matthew Wade, who came in at five after Sibonelo Makhanya was dismissed, put together a 46-run partnership and scored at 11 runs to the over from the sixth.

Wade, who joined the Super Kings set-up at the back end of the competition, showed his experience with an 18-ball 40 — only to be dismissed by English paceman Jofra Archer.

The Super Kings lost wickets at regular intervals but were able to score at a healthy run rate. Du Plooy and Donovan Ferreira got past the hundred mark, with the former the glue that held the innings together.

Du Plooy, who scored a well-played 81 not out from 48 balls, varied his scoring areas to perfection and guided his side to a competitive total of 189/6, along with a late cameo from the heavy-hitting West Indian Romario Shepherd.

The visitors, who were chasing a target of 190, were bowled out for a disappointing total of 113.

The Cape-based side had Rassie van der Dussen and Wesley Marshall at the top of the order but the latter was dismissed for four and his side were 15/1 after three overs.

Lizaad Williams, who finally got a run for the men in yellow, kept Van der Dussen and Grant Roelofsen behind the required run rate, which ballooned. The pair, who failed to make optimal use of the power play, tried to up the ante, but Van der Dussen was caught in the deep and Roelofsen followed suit, succumbing to Kyle Simmonds.

Simmonds, who picked up three wickets, produced a stellar bowling display but was beaten to man of the match by Du Plooy, who excelled on a tricky deck that commentator Shaun Pollock described as “one of the worst” he’s seen at the Wanderers.

Dewald Brevis, the boy wonder of South African cricket, started the tournament with a special innings but hasn’t managed to shoot the lights out as the event has unfurled. He tried to accelerate the innings but another youngster, Gerald Coetzee, who SA captain Dean Elgar playfully described as “a Boertjie from Bloem”, took the limelight by becoming leading wicket-taker in the tournament with 17 scalps.

The 22-year-old, assisted by Simmonds and Sri Lankan spinner Maheesh Theekshana, ensured the Kings reigned supreme.

The Joburg Super Kings will next be in action when they play their semifinal against the third-placed team on the table — currently Sunrisers Eastern Cape — in Centurion on Wednesday.

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