- The SA20 completed their round-robin stage on Tuesday, with Pretoria Capitals cementing their status at the top of the table.
- The tournament, which went on hiatus due to the South Africa/England ODI series, went through an interesting cycle.
- The semi-finals will see the Capitals take on the Paarl Royals on Wednesday, while the Joburg Super Kings play the Sunrisers Eastern Cape on Thursday.
The group stages of the first SA20 are over and they did not disappoint.
Without looking at the points table, this is how News24 Sport judged the teams:
The team that went according to its form: Pretoria Capitals – FIRST
The Capitals, under the strong leadership of Wayne Parnell, sought destruction wherever they went in their path to finish on top. They were five points clear of the Joburg Super Kings and racked up bonus points like they were going out of style.
They were blocked by Johannesburg and Paarl, then unexpectedly humiliated at home by the Durban Super Giants, but they always looked like the team to beat.
They seemed to have the equipment for all conditions and this was shown by the fact that they won in Durban, Gqeberha and Cape Town, where the form of their successes spoke to their adaptability.
They had a measure of revenge when they beat the Paarl Royals by 59 runs on Tuesday, who had beaten them at Paarl, but they will have to do it again on Wednesday when the teams meet at Wanderers for what is sure to be a grudge match semi-final on Wednesday.
Bully Boys at home: Joburg Super Kings – SECOND
On the coast they were doubtful, despite the fact that they won two of four. They were badly beaten by the Capitals, but take them to the Wanderers, and they play like bulls charging a red flag in the Plaza de Toros.
After their terrible loss to the Capitals at halfway, their coach Stephen Fleming said they had a few things they needed to figure out, especially with their hitting.
They had a few home games to do well and, largely thanks to Faf du Plessis’ scoring free form, have made the Corlett Drive-based ground difficult for visiting teams.
They were the only team not to lose a home game in the tournament and deserve to host a semi-final, with Sunrisers Eastern Cape their opponents at SuperSport Park on Thursday.
The team that surprises: Sunrisers Eastern Cape – THIRD
There was a feeling that Gqeberha’s team was not strong from a recruiting point of view, but they were the perfect example of a team that moved between hot and cold.
They were as unpredictable as Gqeberha’s weather, winning games they were expected to lose and vice versa.
They brought the unpredictability factor to the tournament, and you never knew what shade they would look like for a particular match.
Finishing third ahead of his more fancied coastal rivals was a testament to his cricket ingenuity.
However, they will need to step up to beat a Super Kings team that doubled on them in the round-robin stages.
The Tournament Wild Card in the Pack: Paarl Royals – FOURTH
The Paarl Royals looked like a team that could really only play their cricket in Paarl.
The fact that the Royals only won at Paarl and Gqeberha speaks to how they set up their team for one set of conditions and not the other.
It was similar to how formidable his parent team, the Rajasthan Royals, were in Jaipur, but toothless elsewhere.
That said, they did find a way to finish quarters and qualify for the semis, even though they slipped through despite a heavy loss to the Capitals on Tuesday.
What they do have in their armor for Wednesday’s semifinal is the dangerous Jos Buttler, but he’ll need the help of a hitting group that, while talented, hasn’t always turned out well.
The Team That Didn’t Shoot Consistently: The Durban Super Giants – FIFTH
From being the first team to make a total of over 200, to being the first team to make two consecutive scores under 100, to posting the highest team total in the round-robin stage, they ranged from the sublime to the how ridiculous
That told the story of a team of Super Giants that, packed with all-rounders, found different ways to come together and fall apart during the tournament.
Their blowout loss of the Capitals was a game that went all right, but it did so too late in the competition to have a material effect on the record.
Two of their home wins out of five came against Paarl Royal and MI Cape Town, with the weather intervening in the other game.
They’ll have to be smarter with their hitting recruiting next season to complement their excellent all-rounder group.
The team that failed: MI Cape Town – SIXTH
The less said about MI Cape Town the better. On paper, they seemed like a very competent team, but when it came to translating that into acting, that wasn’t the case.
They appeared to be a team that picked Highveld batsmen for coastal combat, and this was shown to be poorly before the tournament moved to the Highveld.
They had the all-conditions pitchers, but what they didn’t have were the all-conditions hitters to navigate the tricky coastal courses that turned out to be their downfall.
The Crowd That Mattered – Gqeberha
The Wanderers whistle suited the imposing nature of the pitch, while the laid-back nature of SuperSport Park and Newlands meant the crowds were always more involved in the play and reception.
Kingsmead fans finally got cricket sense to watch games there, while Paarl’s heat made things uncomfortable for their fans.
St George’s Park was a cauldron of orange through and through and was quite the cricket-watching ground.
The band created an unbeatable atmosphere which was also accompanied by excellent cricket despite the variety of surfaces.
It was pumped from start to finish and the weather also played ball, something that cannot always be said of Gqeberha.
