Faf du Plessis’ Joburg Super Kings can give their SA20 playoff hopes a big boost with a win against Aiden Markram’s Sunrisers Eastern Cape at the Wanderers on Wednesday.
While it wouldn’t guarantee JSK a place in the playoffs it would mean that either the Pretoria Capitals or MI Cape Town would have to win both matches against each other to stand a chance.
For the Sunrisers, the equation is simpler – win and they confirm their place in the playoffs and move into second place. (It would also confine JSK, the Capitals and MICT to only fighting for fourth place – an eliminator playoff slot.)
OPINION: SA20 playoffs format still flawed
With so much on the line for his team, JSK captain Faf du Plessis led from the front in the crucial win over MI Cape Town at Newlands on Monday night, scoring an unbeaten 50 off 20 balls.
Du Plessis had a poor run with the bat in this year’s SA20 before scoring a confidence boosting 25* off 12 balls against the Pretoria Capitals before the rain arrived in Centurion.
“The tricky part with not having played cricket for a while is that you’re looking for that feeling of rhythm, especially me, I’m a big rhythm player,” he explained. “So, with the [elbow] operation the first few games I felt almost like a diesel engine that’s taking a bit of time to kick in.
“It’s probably only two days before the [Capitals] game that I started feeling a little bit better, started having better nets and then you just need time in the middle and almost to hit one ball in the middle of the bat and then get the feeling of ‘there it is, it hasn’t really gone anywhere’.”
Du Plessis regards Monday’s win at Newlands as a catalyst for JSK.
“It was huge, especially in the way that we did it and to get a bonus point in a short game like that comes with real authority and almost a peg in the ground to let the competition know that we’re still fighting and we’re not going anywhere.”
HIGHLIGHTS: MI Cape Town vs Joburg Super Kings (SA20)
As it happens, the Sunrisers’ last match was also a narrow win over MICT in which their captain, Markram, also scored his first fifty of the season.
Markram was thankful for the partnership with Tom Abell which allowed him to ease into his innings.
“Tom played really well. He’s a fantastic player of spin and a fantastic player of seam. He plays really good cricket shots and he’s got quite a lot of options against spin so that takes a lot of pressure off me initially in my innings.
“Obviously, I’ve been searching for a little bit of form so he allowed me to get myself in a little bit – I probably would have liked to be there at the end of our innings and go into the innings change with momentum but still nice to spend some time out there.”
Joburg Super Kings squad: Faf du Plessis (c), Moeen Ali, Doug Bracewell, Nandre Burger, Gerald Coetzee, Sam Cook, Leus du Plooy, Donovan Ferreira, Dayyaan Galiem, Reeza Hendricks, Ronan Herrmann, Wayne Madsen, Sibonelo Makhanya, Aaron Phangiso, Kyle Simmonds, Imran Tahir, David Wiese, Lizaad Williams.
Sunrisers Eastern Cape squad: Aiden Markram (c), Tom Abell, Ottniel Baartman, Temba Bavuma, Liam Dawson, Sarel Erwee, Aya Gqamane, Simon Harmer, Jordan Hermann, Marco Jansen, Patrick Kruger, Dawid Malan, Farid Malik, Adam Rossington, Caleb Seleka, Andile Simelane, Tristan Stubbs, Beyers Swanepoel, Daniel Worrall.
Photo: Shaun Roy Sportzpics
