Pretoria Capitals earned their second victory of the season by edging Sunrisers Eastern Cape in a low-scoring contest before a boisterous home audience at the Supersport Park.
Notwithstanding their modest score of 125 and the unplayed portion of one and a half overs during their innings, the Capitals executed a commendable bowling performance in order to secure a three-run victory.
Although Adil Rashid and Wayne Parnell each took three wickets, it was Daryn Dupavillon and Eathan Bosch, with the former appearing at both ends of the bowling innings, who truly galvanized the Capitals’ comeback.
There were significantly more runs available for the taking on the Centurion pitch than the Capitals managed after being placed into bat. Their ability to reach 125 was largely attributable to Shane Dadswell and James Neesham’s 52-run sixth-wicket stand, which rescued them from a 52/5 powerplay.
However, the Sunrisers’ even-moderate powerplay would have rendered the hosts irrelevant; however, the Capitals refused to be even moderately accommodating in the second innings. During the powerplay, Dupavillon and Bosch each bowled three overs, conceded no runs, and claimed the wickets of Aiden Markram, Dawid Malan, and Adam Rossington.
At the halfway point of the chase, Rashid and Parnell joined forces to tighten the stranglehold, which increased the score from 22/3 to 41/4. Patrick Kruger and Tristan Stubbs overcame the constraints of Parnell in the twelfth over by securing 14 runs each. However, the Capitals captain responded with a double-wicket maiden, dismissing both Kruger and the powerful Marco Jansen.
Rashid executed a double-blow when, in the seventeenth over, he dispatched Stubbs for 35 by compelling him to smash a wide ball directly to long-off, and Beyers Swanepoel. At eight runs down, the defending champions required 35 runs from the final three deliveries to secure a triumph that had appeared inconsequential after one inning.
The equation shifted to 27 off the last two overs, but Liam Dawson added a minor twist by hitting Parnell for two sixes in the penultimate over, leaving him and No. 11 Daniel Worrall with 10 deliveries to chase off the final over. Dawson did hit a further six in the final over, but Dupavillon secured an improbable victory with a near yorker and an exceptional follow-up yorker off the final delivery.
Brief scores:
Pretoria Capitals 125 in 18.3 overs (James Neesham 27; Marco Jansen 3-27) beat Sunrisers Eastern Cape 122/9 in 20 overs (Tristan Stubbs 35; Adil Rashid 3-30, Wayne Parnell 3-33) by 3 runs.
