Royals put Capital in a spin to secure playoff spot

Bjorn Fortuin celebrates after claiming the first of his two wickets against the Pretoria Capitals at Boland Park on Saturday.
Bjorn Fortuin celebrates after claiming the first of his two wickets against the Pretoria Capitals at Boland Park on Saturday.
Image: Sportzpics/SA20

Rilee Rossouw couldn’t believe the look of the Paarl Royals' starting team.

“We were like, where’s all the seamers?” Rossouw remarked about the first time he saw the Royals starting team on Saturday. 

There was just one seamer, Dayyaam Galiem — and he ended up not bowling a single over. Instead, in a historic first for South African cricket, a team completed a full innings of 20 overs all with spin bowling.

“We’ve gone two spinners, three spinners and five spinners ... it seemed to work. I’m glad it worked out for us,” said Royals head coach Trevor Penney.

The Royals won by 11 runs, successfully defending a total of 140. It was a match that stood in stark contrast to the contest between the same two teams a week earlier in Centurion, when they combined for a match aggregate of 425 runs in perfect batting conditions. 

On Saturday it was much more of a struggle, but like at Centurion it was Joe Root who played the match-winning innings for the Royals, scoring an unbeaten 78, which he later followed with four overs of spin, finishing with 2/32. 

Root assessed conditions perfectly, stating afterwards he felt that a total of 160 wasn’t necessary. “I didn’t think it would spin as much as that or be as slow,” he said.

So despite recording their lowest total in a power play — 38/2 — in this year’s tournament, the importance of keeping wickets in hand was paramount. 

He shared a 40-run fourth wicket partnership with Sri Lankan import Dinuth Wellalage, who ate up 44 balls but also absorbed the majority of the overs from the Capitals' three spinners. It mean the visiting team had to go with seamers at the end of the Royals innings and that period proved instrumental in the outcome of the match. 

Root and David Miller combined for an unbeaten 59-run partnership, with 58 of those runs scored in the last five overs. Root’s 78 came off 56 balls, in which he hit eight fours and two sixes. He had two moments of good fortune, the most crucial of which came on 13 when he was dropped by Jimmy Neesham.

Although the Capitals kept in touch with the required run rate, once a 77-run fourth wicket partnership between opener Will Jacks and Kyle Verreynne was ended, no-one else could forge a partnership with Jacks as the Royals' spinners took control. 

As has become the norm in Paarl, Bjorn Fortuin picked up two wickets in the power play and then Wellalage and Afghanistan’s Mujeeb ur Raham put the squeeze on through the middle overs. Nqaba Peter playing his first match in the tournament, battled with nerves but importantly bowled a couple of good leg breaks, a delivery that he needs to work on if he is going to improve at international level.

Jacks finished with 56 off 53 balls, but it proved insufficient. 

The loss leaves the Capitals on the brink of elimination from the playoffs and they will need to win each of the last three matches, all at home, to get back in the running.

The Royals, on the other hand, have qualified for the top four — and it was all thanks to spin.


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