DURBAN – Pretoria Capitals punched their ticket to the SA20 final with a thumping seven-wicket victory over Sunrisers Eastern Cape. Bryce Parsons put on an absolute clinic at Kingsmead in Durban on Wednesday evening 21 January. The 24-year-old grabbed three wickets for a miserly 10 runs before smashing 60 (44). Dewald Brevis then wrapped things up in style with an unbeaten 75 (38).
The Capitals hunted down Sunrisers’ 170/7 with nine balls to spare, cruising to 172/3. Parsons and Brevis were in complete harmony, piling on 91 runs off just 60 balls for the third wicket.
Talk about a remarkable comeback story for Pretoria Capitals this season. They scraped just one win from their opening five matches.
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But the team caught fire, bagging four victories in their next five games to snag second spot. The Capitals now head straight to Sunday’s final at Newlands in Cape Town.
Sunrisers Eastern Cape won the toss and decided to have a bat first. Openers Quinton de Kock and Jonny Bairstow got things rolling nicely. De Kock cracked two boundaries off Roston Chase in the second over. He launched a six in the fourth over before Chase had the last laugh. De Kock tried a cheeky slog-sweep, but was cleaned up for 19.
Bairstow steadied the ship with Jordan Hermann, who was bumped up to number three. The duo absolutely plundered 17 runs off a Gideon Peters over to get things moving. Bairstow brought up his fifty off 35 balls at the end of the 12th over. He departed next ball, trapped plumb in front by Keshav Maharaj.
Maharaj tossed the ball to left-arm spinner Parsons with the score sitting pretty at 128/2. Parsons struck gold immediately, castling Hermann for 41. The Sunrisers went into freefall as Maharaj and Parsons ripped through the middle order. Parsons came back for his third over in the 19th and sent Matthew Breetzke packing cheaply.
James Coles turned things around with a blistering cameo at number eight, walloping 17 off just four balls. He smashed Lizaad Williams for two massive sixes and a four in the final over.
Pretoria Capitals came in for the chase, but Connor Esterhuizen fell early, done in by Chris Green’s sneaky carrom ball.
Brevis joined Parsons and the pair went to work. Brevis crunched Anrich Nortje for a four and a six. He then took Senuran Muthusamy to the cleaners with some brutal hitting.
Parsons played the perfect supporting role, rotating the strike beautifully without taking wild swings. With 45 runs needed off 27 balls, he launched a six and four off Green. Nortje got Parsons in the 18th over with 18 runs still required. Brevis finished it off in spectacular fashion, smacking three massive sixes off Lewis Gregory in the 19th over. His brilliant knock included four fours and seven towering sixes.
Sunrisers get another crack at the final. They will face Thursday’s eliminator winners between Paarl Royals and Joburg Super Kings. The second eliminator happens at the Wanderers on Friday.
Sunday’s final kicks off at 15:30 at Newlands.
