It’s every about wins as Pretoria Capitals and MI Cape Town start back-to-back mini-series

The road to the playoffs intensifies with only one spot remaining

Thursday, 01 February 2024: With only one Betway SA20 Season 2 Playoff spot remaining, the permutations for Pretoria Capitals and MI Cape Town believe become clearer for their back-to-back mini-series starting on Thursday at Centurion; beat the other team twice and (particularly for MICT) claim at least one bonus point.

Joburg Super Kings’ loss on Wednesday night sees them remain in 4th area on 13 points with only one match left –  making their maximum haul 18 points unless they can obtain a bonus point win against top-of-the-table Durban’s Super Giants On Saturday.

Capitals, currently on 10 points, could secure a playoff spot with two outright wins, but MICT, currently on 9 points, would need an extra point to acquire to 18 and bring it down to net sprint rate and number of wins

Following their fifth loss of 2024 (they only lost four times overall in 2023) on Tuesday against Durban’s Super Giants, Capitals captain, Wayne Parnell, did not want to spend too long analysing why the two seasons gain been so different for the men in sky blue.

“It’s a combination of things, but we’ve lost the crucial moments in various games which probably makes us pause up losing. Still, there maintain been excellent things throughout every single game but it’s those crucial moments which are the inequity between winning and losing.”

Now faced with back-to-back clashes against MI Cape Town, Parnell chose to maintain wish.

“There’s still a lot to play for in our two group games and we’ll gain to see where we finish up after that.”

MI Cape Town head coach Robin Peterson, though, couldn’t veil the pain of the rain-affected bonus-point loss against Joburg Super Kings on Monday.

“It’s a hard one to seize because you feel a puny bit hard done by, but that’s cricket. You don’t acquire everything in life, we’ll just fade again and try win our next two – that’s every we can focus on.”

Peterson had similar sentiments to Parnell about the task that lay ahead of his troops.

“We can still qualify, so we’re still positive, we’ve got two games that we believe to win. Yes, we need two results but that’s the nature of this competition – anybody can beat anybody. Everybody is still alive in this tournament, which is what makes it so noteworthy.

Despite the precarious position MICT find themselves in, Peterson spoke glowingly about their captain, Kieron Pollard – who was also his captain in MI Novel York’s victorious Major League Cricket campaign last year.

“We’re talking about one of the greatest of every times in our dressing room who’s spent a lot of time in Cape Town and gives it his all… an example being stepping up [on Monday], not in his batting position. That’s what he’s brought to our team; a lot of leadership, a lot of calm, a lot cricket savvy but most of every he plays with his heart – that’s every we can inquire for from the guys who play for this team.

“You can’t fault his commitment to this team, he’s tried absolutely everything and he will continue to try everything until the last ball is bowled for this team. We’re just privileged and contented that he’s portion of our dressing room and the boys – especially the local guys – are learning so much from him, not only from a cricket perspective but how to be a professional and if you want to succeed Pollard is the perfect guy to talk to and he’s distinguished around the change room.”

This match will start at 17h30 (SAST).

FULL SQUADS FOR CENTURION

Pretoria Capitals: Wayne Parnell (captain), 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.

MI Cape Town: Kieron Pollard (captain), Tom Banton, Chris Benjamin, Dewald Brevis, Sam Curran, Connor Esterhuizen, Beuran Hendricks, Duan Jansen, Thomas Kaber, George Linde, Liam Livingstone, Delano Potgieter, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Grant Roelofsen, Olly Stone, Nuwan Thushara, Rassie van der Dussen, Nealan van Heerden.

MATCH OFFICIALS FOR CENTURION

Match referee: Laurence Matroos

Standing umpires: Dennis Smith and Siphelele Gasa

TV umpire: Babalo Gcuma

Reserve umpire: Phillip Vosloo

Source: cricket.co.za

Kevin Pietersen: With an HPI of 19.94, Kevin Pietersen is the 4th most famous South African Cricketer. His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Kevin Peter Pietersen (born 27 June 1980) is an English cricket commentator, conservationist, and former England international captain. He is a right-handed batsman and occasional off spin bowler who played in all three formats for England between 2005 and 2014, which included a brief tenure as captain. He won the Player of the Series award for his heroics in 2010 ICC World Twenty20 and for helping the England Cricket Team win their maiden ICC trophy. Pietersen was born to an Afrikaner father and English mother in South Africa. He made his first-class debut for Natal in 1997 and moved to England in 2000, after voicing his displeasure at what he said was the racial quota system in South African cricket. Being of English ancestry, Pietersen was eligible for the England team so long as he first served a four-year qualifying period in English county cricket. He was called up by England almost immediately after he completed four years with Nottinghamshire. He made his international debut in the One Day International (ODI) match against Zimbabwe in 2004 and his Test match debut in the 2005 Ashes series against Australia.Pietersen left Nottinghamshire for Hampshire in 2005, but the England team’s subsequent reliance on him resulted in Pietersen making only a single first-class appearance for his new county between 2005 and 2010. In June 2010, Pietersen announced his wish to leave Hampshire; he joined Surrey on loan for the remainder of the season, then moved permanently in 2011.Pietersen was captain of the England Test and ODI teams from 4 August 2008 to 7 January 2009, but resigned after just three Tests and nine ODIs following a dispute with the England coach Peter Moores, who was sacked the same day. Pietersen’s relationship with the ECB never fully recovered. This came to a head in 2012 when, after a disagreement over his schedule, Pietersen announced his retirement from all forms of international limited-overs cricket on 31 May. Although he later retracted his retirement, his relationship with both the ECB and his team-mates soured during the series against South Africa, and he was dropped for the final Test of that series. Pietersen last played for England in the 2013–14 Ashes and subsequent ODIs, after which he was informed that he was no longer being considered for international selection. He also played for the Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash League until the end of BBL|07 (seventh season), the Quetta Gladiators in the Pakistan Super League as well as the Hollywoodbets Dolphins in the CSA T20 Challenge. He was also signed by the Rising Pune Supergiants for the 2016 season of the Indian Premier League. Pietersen is one of the fastest batsman to reach 1,000 ODI runs and still holds the record for being the fastest player to cross 2,000 runs in One Day International cricket. He has the second-highest run total from his first 25 Tests, behind only Sir Don Bradman of Australia, and was the fastest player, in terms of days, to reach 4,000, 5,000 and 7,000 Test runs. He became only the third English batsman to top the ICC One Day International rankings, doing so in March 2007. In July 2008, after a century against South Africa, The Times called him “the most complete batsman in cricket” and in 2012 The Guardian called him “England’s greatest modern batsman”. On the occasion of England’s 1000th Test in August 2018, he was named in the country’s greatest Test XI by the ECB.