At a time when Cricket South Africa allegedly sent an e-mail asking for more credit for the success of the SA20 league, Faf du Plessis sent his own message with the bat at the Wanderers on Saturday afternoon: He clearly still has the abs, the skills and mental strength of old as he spearheaded the Joburg Super Kings’ victory over Sunrisers Eastern Cape.
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Du Plessis scored a brilliant 92 off just 64 balls on a difficult Wanderers pitch that provided uneven bounce and spin, leading Joburg to a competitive 160/6. The Sunrisers chase did not go well as they fell 24 runs short. Temba Bavuma (50 off 34) and Aiden Markram (34 off 30), both international class batsmen, were the only ones to score more than twenty, showing the dire situation.
Captain Super Kings Du Plessis earlier won the toss and elected to bat, noted the dry surface, and, for the second innings in succession, and Reeza Hendricks notched a standing century for the first wicket.
Hendricks is comfortable playing a supporting role for Du Plessis, but 40 from 36 balls is still a smooth, quality innings considering the vagaries of the pitch.
But Hendricks broke the ball twice from 15Th over, slapping Brydon Carse to deep cover, began a dramatic collapse as the Joburg Super Kings collapsed from 119 wuthout loss.
Markram dismissed Matthew Wade (7) and Donovan Ferreira (2) in the 16th overTh over, and Leeus du Plooy (5) fell to Marco Jansen (4-0-31-1).
Sisanda Magala was outstanding with the ball, taking 2-24 in four overs, two at the death. He dismissed Romario Shepherd (2) in the last over and then claimed the big wicket of Du Plessis, who had been starved of strike as wickets tumbled, facing just 14 deliveries in five overs.
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Eastern Cape’s reply soon ran into trouble as fast bowler Gerald Coetzee (2-1-13-2) and mystery spinner Maheesh Theekshana (4-0-31-2) combined to reduce them to 23/3 after five overs, revealing the bowlers. Nandre Burger (4-0-21-0) also increased the pressure.
Bavuma and Markram then came together in a four-wicket stand of 59 from 45 balls, but the Proteas white-ball captain had just moved on to 50 when left-arm spinner Kyle Simmonds bowled him with a delivery that was kept low.
A fine arm-ball from Simmonds contributed to Tristan Stubbs (5), and the next ball was again kept low and trapped Marco Jansen lbw for a duck. Late recruit Simmonds didn’t get a hat-trick of balls despite completing four overs, producing impressive figures of 3/23.
The Super Kings got a team hat-trick even though Markram smashed the next ball, the first back for Shepherd (4-0-24-2), straight to cover point. From 82/3, Sunrisers crashed to 98/7 before limping to 136/9 to deny Joburg the bonus point.
It didn’t matter as the Super Kings still qualified for the semi-finals.
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