Day of high drama in SA20 play-offs scramble

Betway SA20 delivered an incredible set of results on Saturday that leaves three teams still in contention for the final Season 4 Play-offs berth.

The excitement started at Kingsmead where Durban’s Super Giants captain Aiden Markram struck an electrifying career-best 108 off 58 balls (12x4, 5x6) to set up his team’s bonus point 58-run victory over Paarl Royals.

The five points earned pushed DSG up to 19 points and into the fourth and final Play-offs berth ahead of Joburg Super Kings (17 points).

The Proteas T20 captain showed that he is the man for the big occasion, flexing his biceps with DSG’s season on the line. The Super Giants’ 189/7 proved too much for the Paarl Royals with the home team cruising to a bonus-point 58-run victory.

Defeat for Super Giants would have seen Lance Klusener’s team eliminated. Instead, they will now watch Joburg Super Kings’ match later this afternoon against Pretoria Capitals with bated breath for a JSK win will bring a close to DSG’s play-off chances.

But for now they will celebrate an audacious Markram innings. The skipper has taken time to settle into his new surroundings at Kingsmead after moving from Sunrisers Eastern Cape but here he delivered a batting exhibition of the highest calibre.

The match was evenly poised when DSG were 53/3 after 7.2 overs with all three their big overseas signings Sunil Narine, Jos Buttler and Kane Williamson back in the hut.

It was therefore left to Markram and Heinrich Klaasen to resurrect the innings with a 81-run partnership off just 48 balls.

Klaasen (29 off 21 balls) does not often play second fiddle but he could only look on in awe as Markram unleashed a power-hitting display of the highest order.

Standing tall in the crease, Markram bludgeoned the ball straight down the ground for a flurry of boundaries. He certainly made Royals rue dropping him in the deep on 79 off the bowling of Ottneil Baartman.

Markram’s takedown of Royals’ ace allrounder Sikandar Raza was particularly telling. Raza (0/57) has been one the standout performers of Betway SA20 Season 4, but on Saturday afternoon at Kingsmead he met his match.

Markram bludgeoned 28 runs, which included three sixes and two boundaries in Raza’s penultimate over of the innings. In the process, he brought up his second T20 century of his career to the great appreciation of the Kingsmead crowd.

Even Hardus Viljoen’s excellent career-best figures of 4/21 could not halt DSG’s momentum.

The four Player of the Match candidates were Bjorn Fortuin, Liam Livingstone, Markram and Viljoen with the centurion winning 78.8% of the fan vote.

Super Giants carried this through their bowling effort as the Royals wilted in Durban’s intense heat and humidity.

Royals failed to contend with the high-quality spin of Super Giants duo Sunil Narine (2/18) and Simon Harmer (1/13). The spin twins combined to deliver eight magical overs, conceding a total of 31 runs, and picked up three wickets.

The result was inevitable from the moment Royals slumped to 68/8 with the Super Giants eventually restricting the visitors to 131/9, which earned the home side a lifeline until later this afternoon when their face could be decided at the Wanderers.

But despite the comprehensive victory that saw DSG post 189/7 before restricting Royals to 131/9, their Play-offs fate was still in the balance as a JSK victory over Pretoria Capitals at the Wanderers later in the evening would eliminate both Super Giants and MI Cape Town.

JSK certainly sent shivers down the spines of both teams when they reduced Pretoria Capitals to an extraordinary 7/5 after 4.5 overs. The Super Kings seamers were virtually unplayable with Dan Worrall, Nandre Burger and Wiaan Mulder all chipping in to place Capitals deep in the quagmire.

But that set the stage for the greatest comeback in Betway SA20 history with Dewald Brevis and Sherfane Rutherford rebuilding Capitals innings with a remarkable 103-run sixth-wicket stand. The pair had already shown they enjoy batting together during this competition but took it to the next level at the Bullring.

JSK will rue dropping Brevis on three as the big-hitting right-hander went on to score 53 off 47 balls (4x4, 3x6) and in the process winning a duel with JSK captain Donovan Ferreira, who conceded 23 runs in the 14th over.

Rutherford, though, was once again the mainstay of the Capitals’ innings with an unbeaten 74 (50 balls, 10x4, 2x6) as his pyrotechnics lifted the visitors to an improbable 143/6.

The Capitals bowling unit were determined to defend their total and led by the irrepressible Lizaad Williams (3/25) and captain Keshav Maharaj (3/15), the Centurion-based team restricted Joburg Super Kings to 122/8 to complete one the most sensational comebacks in T20 franchise cricket history.

Capitals' victory propelled Maharaj’s outfit to top of the three-pronged leaderboard on 24 points along with Paarl Royals and Sunrisers Eastern Cape.

However, they would have been celebrating all the way down in Durban and Cape Town too, with DSG and MI Cape Town all now surviving to fight another day.

The four Player of the Match candidates were Brevis, Maharaj, Rutherford and Worrall with Rutherford winning 51.2% of the fan vote.

Joburg Super Kings’ Play-offs fate is still in their own hands with one final match remaining against Paarl Royals on Monday at Boland Park but they may have to contest it without their stand-in captain Ferreira who retired hurt after facing just one ball having injured himself in the field earlier.

MI Cape Town (14 points) now face Sunrisers Eastern Cape at St George’s Park on Sunday requiring a bonus-point victory to remain in Play-offs contention.

Sunrisers themselves also have plenty to play for as they seek to entrench their status at the top of the standings to secure a place in Qualifier 1 at Kingsmead next Wednesday.