Paarl Royals and Sunrisers Eastern Cape commence battle to join DSG in Qualifier 1

Both sides having already qualified for playoffs

Friday, 02 February 2024: With Durban’s Super Giants having already secured their spot in Qualifier 1 of the Betway SA20 Playoffs, one spot remains for either Paarl Royals or Sunrisers Eastern Cape to claim.

What adds to the excitement of the battle is that the pair face off back-to-back this weekend, starting at Boland Park this evening, so whoever secures their two chances to reach the final will believe well and truly earned it. A win for Sunrisers on Friday evening will seal their space in Qualifier 1 as they currently hold a two-point guide over Royals (24-22).

Royals believe had the benefit of five days to reset, following their back-to-back bonus point losses against DSG last weekend, but their goals remain in space quick bowling coach Mandla Mashimbyi asserted.

“The goal is still the same, we want to finish in the top two – and that’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 maintain to reset, refocus, near back, freshen up and hopefully the last two games we depart back to our best.”

Royals’ strength in Season 2 has undoubtedly been their bowling attack. Lungi Ngidi has taken a League high 13 wickets (joint with Sunrisers’ Dan Worrall) while he, Tabraiz Shamsi, Obed McCoy maintain featured prominently on the Bowler of the Season leaderboard this campaign. They will acquire the benefit of being refreshed at their favourite Boland Park this evening.

“This crash couldn’t gain near at a better time and it gives us time to reset. What’s vital is for the guys to gain some rest, finish some self-reflection and approach back for us to formulate the way forward.

When Mashimbyi was asked about whether they had effective gameplans for the playoffs, considering how strong they’ve been at home compared to the playoffs venues – Newlands and Wanderers.

“The conditions will speak to that because that first qualifier is not in any of our [Royals, DSG or SEC] home conditions, we’ll be in Cape Town if we finish second and if we finish third we’re going to Joburg. So, condition will dictate how we recede about things – we just believe to fade back to the drawing board and see how that will work out for us.

Sunrisers Eastern Cape gain also been heavily indebted to their bowlers, with the aforementioned Worrall, Ottniel Baartman and Marco Jansen every taking turns to produce opposition batters’ lives difficult. As Aiden Markram remarked mid-week, after they bowled Joburg Super Kings out for 78, they’ve also made their own luck.

“That was a nice one. A few balls we got in the accurate area and obviously fortunate with some of the other dismissals as well so if you survey at it from a broader aspect we’ll enact a reflection based on that. Contented with the win and that we took every our chances out in the field and another marvelous day out for the batters especially for Mala [Dawid Malan] to be not out there at the conclude, it will enact his confidence the world of excellent – we’re in a nice and solid space as a team and a change room at the moment.”

Going into the crucial final two matches of the group stage, Markram is grateful for their closer matches they’ve had this campaign.

“I reflect it’s helped us that we’ve had two close games that we’ve managed to secure over the line [both against MI Cape Town]… if you seize those wins away then you’re scrambling similar to what we were last year so those fade a long towards the back-end of a comp. I’m pleased that we got those two close games over the line and it’s qualified practice building into the next [knockout] phase of the competition as well.”

This match will start at 17h30 (SAST).

FULL SQUADS FOR BOLAND PARK

Paarl Royals: David Miller (captain), 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: Aiden Markram (captain), 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.

MATCH OFFICIALS FOR BOLAND PARK

Match referee: Barry Lambson

Standing umpires: Brad White and Thomas Mokorosi

TV umpire: Stephen Harris

Reserve umpire: Abdoellah Steenkamp

Source: cricket.co.za

Mark Boucher: Mark Boucher is regarded as one of the best keepers of the ball behind the stumps. Boucher is the most successful wicketkeeper in the world, he has a record of 998 dismissals in 467 matches. He also holds the record for most dismissals (555) in Test Cricket.
When it comes to batting, Boucher enjoys his name in the elite list of batsmen scoring 10,000 international runs for the proteas. Boucher has scored 10,289 runs precisely and is 9th on the list of highest run scorers for the proteas.