GQEBERHA: Phil Salt made an unbeaten 77 from 47 balls while Wayner Parnell blasted a quick-fire 27 off 9 to aid Pretoria Capitals (PC) beat Sunrisers Eastern Cape (SEC) by 23 runs in a rain-hit match of the SA20, here on Thursday.
Opener Salt led the batting charge to carry the Capitals to a massive total of 193/6 after they elected to bat first. All-rounder Parnell, however, smacked three gigantic sixes and two fours in a late cameo to finish the proceedings in style.
Sunrisers, in return, managed 170/5 despite fighting knocks by JJ Smuts and Tom Abell, but top-order chaos inflicted by the pacers derailed their chase.
Opener Smuts played a defiant knock of 66 from 51 balls, laced with six fours and four sixes, to bring sanity to Sunriser’s batting order amid Capital’s pace-laden assault, led by Parnell, Anrich Nortje and James Neesham.
SEC went through a dismal start to their chase when Parnell transferred his batting momentum into bowling and earned a breakthrough on his very first bowl, dismissing Sarel Erwee cheaply on one.
Nortje and Neesham then forced the ousters of Jordan Cox (5 from 11) and skipper Aiden Markram (5 off 8) to reduce the Sunrisers to 34/3 in the 8th over.
A short breathing space in the middle was offered by Tristan Snubbs who made 23 from 11 while gathering 34 runs for the fourth wicket with Smuts but Nortje’s 151 kph-yorker went past Snubb’s bat and shattered the stumps in the 11th over.
Abell and Smuts then crafted a fightback and moved the scoreboard to 133/4 in 16.2 overs before Rashid took his lone yet priceless wicket, dismissing Smuts.
Abell went on to make an unbeaten 40 from 24 balls while James Fuller contributed 12-ball 27 with Sunrisers left well behind the finishing line.
Earlier Capitals also underwent a woeful start when England’s Will Jacks (6 from 4) was removed by Marco Jansen in the very first over of the match. Rilee Rossouw (4 off 3) followed shortly and fell prey to Sisanda Magala in the next overs.
Number four-batter Theunis de Bruyn’s stay also proved short-lived as Ottniel Baartman knocked him down on 19 off 12 as Capital slid to 45/3 after the first 28 balls.
Salt, however, kept playing his strokes despite multiple breaks due to bad weather and reached his fifty from 30 balls.
After two back-to-back jolts by Markram in the 10 over, dismissing Senuran Muthusamy and Shane Dadswell, the batting side was reduced to 80/5 before Neesham stitched an astounding partnership of 77 runs with Salt while scoring 28-ball 37.
The Kiwi all-rounder was caught out at long-on off Baartman’s bowling in the 18th over before Parnell came to sizzle the Capital’s innings.
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