Sipamla delivers right royal feast for Super Kings

It was like October 2024 all over again: a Sunday afternoon at the Wanderers, Lutho Sipamla in the home side and wickets tumbling. Four months ago almost to the day, Sipamla destroyed the Titans in the final of the T20 Challenge, finishing that match with 4/12, with Heinrich Klaasen and his current Joburg Super Kings teammate Donovan Ferreira among his victims in that match. 

Though not the chief destroyer on Sunday against the Sunrisers Eastern Cape, it was Sipamla who set the tone for the Joburg Super Kings in this crucial nine-wicket Betway SA20 victory for the Kings, from the first ball. 

Unlike last Friday in the reverse fixture between these teams when he uprooted Zak Crawley’s stumps off a no-ball, on Sunday Sipamla kept his feet in the right place and served up a beautiful delivery that nipped away from the England right-hander, finding the edge to give Ferreira an easy catch at slip. 

Crawley was furious — obviously at getting out for his fifth single-figure score in this tournament, but also at the fact that he was likely distracted by the shadows cast by smoke from the prematch fireworks which drifted over the pitch as Sipamla released the ball. The Super Kings and their raucous support couldn’t have cared. 

Sipamla turned up the volume at the end of that first over when Tim Abell was bowled via the inside edge.

Jordan Hermann fell at the end of Sipamla’s next over — also nicking off, giving Jonny Bairstow a simple catch. He completed the match with figures of 3/13, almost matching his effort in the domestic final.

The match as a contest was all but over when Hardus Viljoen, who finished with 4/24, angled one through Aiden Markram’s defences, leaving the two-time defending champions at 17/4 at the end of the fourth over. 

The Sunrisers were dismissed for 118, with JSK reaching the target of 119 for the loss of one wicket in the 14th over.

It was the perfect way for Super Kings captain Faf du Plessis to celebrate his 400th T20 match. There was a ceremony before the match in which Du Plessis was presented with a special match shirt — with the figure 400 displayed on the back — by the franchise’s head-honcho, along with a speech from coach Stephen Fleming.

Though no longer part of the set up in the IPL, Du Plessis spent almost a decade with the Chennai Super Kings and was part of two championship-winning teams in the IPL. He remains associated with the franchise, not just in the SA20 but also the Major League Cricket side in Texas. 

The Sunrisers, who’d come into this match riding a four-match winning streak, were simply overwhelmed by the force of the Super Kings. There was brief respite during a 57-run fifth-wicket stand between David Bedingham, who top-scored with 48, and Tristan Stubbs, who made 37, but as well as that pair played, the early loss of so many wickets meant they couldn’t bat with the necessary aggression. 

A ridiculous running one-handed catch by Ferreira on the point boundary to end Beyers Swanepoel’s innings provided the perfect demonstration of the one-sided nature of the contest.

Devon Conway, who previously called this ground home, struck a number of sweet drives in a fluent innings of 76 not out that included 11 fours and three sixes and earned JSK a bonus point.

This was a much-needed win for the Super Kings, who’ve battled with injury to their fast-bowling corps, but were able to put a bit of space between themselves and the bottom two teams, the Pretoria Capitals and the Durban Super Giants, in the race for a playoff spot.