The Betway SA20 League continues to raise the bar in Season 3 with the past weekend featuring large crowds at all four venues all around the country.
Spectators are voting with their feet as fans streamed into St George’s Park, Boland Park, Newlands and Wanderers to create epic atmospheres. It also coincided with Betway SA20 celebrating its 1 millionth ticket holder.
The fans have been treated to some fantastic cricket with the Paarl Royals tearing up the script and creating history in South African cricket.
The Royals utilised a five-man all-spin attack in their last home game against Pretoria Capitals at Boland Park. It was the first time that a team has bowled a full 20 overs of spin in a Betway SA20 match.
The tactic has certainly been hugely effective with the Royals winning three straight matches this past week to top the Betway SA20 table and book their place in the Season 3 playoffs.
Left-arm spinner Bjorn Fortuin, who became the leading wicket-taker in Royals history, believes the Paarl side’s success is due to the variety within their slow bowling arsenal.
“We’re quite diverse as a spin group. We’ve got myself and (Dunith) Wellalage that both bowl left-arm spin, but different left-arm spin if that makes sense,” said Fortuin.
“Mujeeb (Ur-Rahman) bowls liquorice allsorts, you never know what’s going on there. (Joe) Root is just trying to keep things quiet. You’ve got Nqaba (Peter) that joined us, so we complement each other well, but I think we adapt well as well. Root could do my job in the powerplay, for instance.
“Mujeeb could bowl at the death like Root did. So it was quite interchangeable. Anyone could have bowled at any point and fortunately it worked out well for us.”
The Royals also boast the league’s top run-scorers with opening duo Joe Root (279 runs at an average of 69.75) and Lhuan-dre Pretorius (258 runs at 36.85). Mystery spinner Mujeeb-ur-Rahman is also the joint top wicket-taker with 12 scalps at 15.83.
Neighbours MI Cape Town have been on a similar winning streak. Robin Peterson’s team also made history by winning back-to-back matches for the first time in the competition’s three-year history to place second with 21 points.
“There’s a different vibe in the camp. (Captain) Rashid (Khan) knows the players well, and you can see the hunger to succeed, especially after the tough past seasons. We owe it to ourselves and the fans,” said MI Cape Town allrounder George Linde.
A fiercely competitive battle is playing out in the middle of the table with defending champions Sunrisers Eastern Cape (19 points) having won three consecutive matches at home last week before facing a resurgent Joburg Super Kings (15 points) at the Wanderers on Sunday
Sunrisers pacemen Marco Jansen (12 wickets) and Richard Gleeson (11 wickets) have led the way with the ball, while captain Aiden Markram is also striking it beautifully with 243 runs at an average of 40.50.
After suffering three defeats on the coast, the Super Kings were delighted to be back on the Highveld and stormed to a nine-wicket bonus point victory over the Sunrisers to reignite their push for a playoff place.
The clash at the Bullring also marked captain Faf du Plessis’ 400th T20 appearance.
The Pretoria Capitals (9 points) and Durban’s Super Giants (8 points) both endured a difficult week and now face an uphill battle to reach the playoffs.
Good William
New Zealand’s national rugby team, the All Blacks, pay homage to their Maori heritage by performing a captivating war dance called the ‘Haka’ before each game. This ritual not only energizes the team but also showcases the rich cultural traditions of New Zealand’s indigenous people.
Irish Dze
In 1877 Charlie Bannerman from Australia scored the first century in a Test match.