With Durban’s Super Giants having already secured their place in the first playoff qualifier, one spot remains for either the Paarl Royals or Sunrisers Eastern Cape to claim.
The pair face off back-to-back this weekend, starting at Boland Park on Friday, so whoever secures their two chances to reach the final will have well and truly earned it.
A win for the Sunrisers on Friday will seal their place in the first playoff qualifier as they currently hold a two-point lead over the Royals (24-22).
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The Royals have had the benefit of five days to reset, following their back-to-back losses against DSG last weekend, but their goals remain in place, fast bowling coach Mandla Mashimbyi asserted.
“The goal is still the same, we want to finish in the top two – it’s as simple as that. We’re still very much in the competition; we started well and that has paid dividends for us. Now we just have to reset, refocus, come back, freshen up and hopefully the last two games we go back to our best.”
The Royals’ strength this season has undoubtedly been their bowling attack. Lungi Ngidi has taken a league-high 13 wickets (joint with Sunrisers’ Daniel Worrall) while he, Tabraiz Shamsi and Obed McCoy have featured prominently on the Bowler of the Season leaderboard this campaign. They will have the benefit of being refreshed at their favourite Boland Park .
When asked if the Royals had effective game plans for the playoffs – considering how strong they’ve been at home compared to the playoffs venues, Newlands and Wanderers – Mashimbyi said: “The conditions will determine that because that first qualifier is not in any of our [Royals, DSG or Sunrisers] home conditions. We’ll be in Cape Town if we finish second and if we finish third we’re going to Joburg.”
The Sunrisers Eastern Cape have also been heavily indebted to their bowlers, with Worrall, Ottniel Baartman and Marco Jansen all taking turns to make opposition batsmen’s lives difficult.
As Aiden Markram remarked midweek, after they had bowled out the Joburg Super Kings for 78, they’ve also made their own luck.
“That was a nice one. A few balls we got in the right area and obviously fortunate with some of the other dismissals as well so if you look at it from a broader aspect we’ll do a reflection based on that.
“Happy with the win and that we took all our chances out in the field and another good day out for the batters especially for Mala [Dawid Malan] to be not out there at the end, it will do his confidence the world of good.
“We’re in a nice and solid space as a team and a change room at the moment.”
Going into their final two league matches, Markram is grateful for the closer matches they’ve had this season.
“I think it’s helped us that we’ve had two close games that we’ve managed to get over the line [both against MI Cape Town] … if you take those wins away then you’re scrambling similar to what we were last year so those go a long towards the backend of a comp.
“I’m happy that we got those two close games over the line and it’s good practice building into the next [knockout] phase of the competition as well.”
Friday’s match will start at 5:30pm.
Paarl Royals squad: David Miller (c), Ferisco Adams, Fabian Allen, Jos Buttler, Keith Dudgeon, Bjorn Fortuin, Evan Jones, Wihan Lubbe, Obed McCoy, Lungi Ngidi, Nqaba Peter, Andile Phehlukwayo, Jason Roy, Tabraiz Shamsi, Lorcan Tucker, John Turner, Mitchell van Buuren, Dane Vilas, Codi Yusuf.
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: Nic Bothma/Sportzpics
