The Pretoria Capitals will be looking to keep their SA20 playoff hopes alive when they take on Durban’s Super Giants at Kingsmead on Tuesday.
The Capitals have not played a full match in five days and saw the Joburg Super Kings overtake them again in the battle for fourth place with their win over MI Cape Town on Monday night.
JSK now have 13 log points, with the Capitals on 10 (with a match in hand) and MICT on nine.
HIGHLIGHTS: MI Cape Town vs Joburg Super Kings (SA20)
The Capitals will be desperate for a win in Durban before their back-to-back clashes against MICT.
However, they will have to achieve it without talismanic all-rounder Jimmy Neesham, who has been ruled out of the rest of the tournament with a hamstring injury, while Ireland captain Paul Stirling has pulled up with a calf injury.
Their places in the Capitals squad have been taken up by Pretoria-born Free State Knights batsman Jacques Snyman and Colin Ackerman, the SA-born Dutch all-rounder.
“When I got the phone call I was actually packed and ready to go back to the UK,” said Ackerman, who plays for Durham. “It’s a fantastic opportunity to be here with the Pretoria Capitals … I’m ready to go for the game.”
Ackermann, who’s from Gqeberha and played seven seasons for the Warriors domestically, most recently played for the Netherlands during the ODI World Cup in India. The 32-year-old will be joining up with some familiar faces in the Capitals camp.
“I’ve played a lot of cricket with Colin Ingram and Wayne Parnell at the Warriors. I’ve spent some great moments on the cricket field with those two guys so it’s great to be linking up with them again. It’s quite nostalgic actually because I played schoolboy cricket with Wayne so we have quite a few great memories playing with him at Grey High School in Port Elizabeth and obviously we went on to play for the Warriors after that so it’s great to link up with him again.”
Snyman said joining the Capitals was a “dream come true”.
“I’m really looking forward to the rest of the competition … definitely to learn from opening duo from England and to play with Rilee Rossouw again.”
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Meanwhile, DSG have already secured their place in the playoffs
“I am really proud of the boys,” said captain Keshav Maharaj after their victory over the Paarl Royals on Sunday. “Matthew Breetzke has been giving us good starts throughout the tournament. Some of the shots he’s playing reminds you of [Herschelle] Gibbs.”
While Breetzke’s first fifty of the season set the platform for DSG, it was Afghanistan spinner Noor Ahmad’s five-for that sealed the deal.
“He’s always delivered whenever I’ve asked him and is a world-class performer which is why we got him here,” said Maharaj. “He’s young in his career and has done wonderful things all over the world.”
Maharaj insisted that while DSG has an eye on the playoffs, “we’re not going to take our foot off the gas”.
He added: “We still want to finish as high on the table as we can and making sure we stay true to our principles on and off the field.”
Tuesday’s match will start at 5:30pm.
Durban’s Super Giants squad: Keshav Maharaj (c), Noor Ahmad, Matthew Breetzke, Junior Dala, Quinton de Kock, Tony de Zorzi, Heinrich Klaasen, Kyle Mayers, Wiaan Mulder, Naveen-ul-Haq Murid, Bryce Parsons, Keemo Paul, Dwaine Pretorius, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Jon-Jon Smuts, Jason Smith, Marcus Stoinis, Prenelan Subrayen, Reece Topley.
Pretoria Capitals squad: Wayne Parnell (c), Colin Ackermann, Matthew Boast, Corbin Bosch, Eathan Bosch, Shane Dadswell, Theunis de Bruyn, Daryn Dupavillon, Colin Ingram, Will Jacks, Senuran Muthusamy, Migael Pretorius, Adil Rashid, Rilee Rossouw, Phil Salt, Jacques Snyman, Tiaan van Vuuren, Kyle Verreynne, Hardus Viljoen.
Photo: Arjun Singh/Sportzpics
