Rutherford turns the tide as Capitals shake things up against Royals

Sherfane Rutherford struck two sixes in the final over to overcome an earlier collapse and heave the Pretoria Capitals to a respectable total of 138-9 after captain Keshav Maharaj had chosen to bat first in their SA20 match against the Paarl Royals at Boland Park in Paarl on Saturday afternoon.

The left-handed Guyanese allrounder finished unbeaten on 42 from 35 balls with a trio of fours and sixes, including two from the final six balls from Hardus Viljoen, to help the visitors recover from 74-6 and 105-7 to post a defendable score on a typically capricious surface.

No matter the prior knowledge and preparation for the lack of pace and ‘awkwardness’ of the Paarl pitch visiting batsmen continue to look non-plussed at their inability to time the ball – and propensity to hit catches to boundary fielders.

Connor Esterhuizen (12) drove Viljoen to mid off before Englishman Jordan Cox fluffed a pull shot against Nqobani Mokoena (1-33) to mid on.

Another Englishman, part-time offspinner Dan Lawrence (2-0-19-2), claimed two wickets in his first over when Shai Hope (22) slapped a length ball to deep cover and Wihan Lubbe (8) drove to long off.

Barbadian Roston Chase (9) conjured a six from the six balls he faced before becoming yet another victim of the slow pitch with a clunked drive to provide the excellent Sikander Raza (4-0-13-2) with a return catch.

At 71-5 in was incumbent upon the tournament’s most expensive player to provide some return on the R16 million invested in him but Dewald Brevis drove ambitiously against a Sikander ‘slider’ and was bowled between bat and pad for 12 from 15 balls and it was 74-6 with just over eight overs remaining.

Rutherford turned down a couple of singles in the company of Lizaad Williams in search of boundaries and it was his 42* which allowed the Capitals, eventually, to give themselves a fighting chance.

The home side have bounced back from a horror start to the tournament in which they were bowled out for 49 but three consecutive victories and a wash-out leave them in third place on 15 points having played a game fewer than leaders Sunrisers (19) and second placed Joburg Super Kings (17).

The Capitals (11) currently occupy the final play-off place in fourth spot, just a point ahead of the Durban Super Giants who have played seven of their 10 league matches. A victory for the visitors today would go a long way to ensuring a place in the knockout matches.

PAARL ROYALS: Lhuan-dre Pretorius (wkt), Asa Tribe, Rubin Hermaann, Dan Lawrence, David Miller (captain), Delano Potgieter, Sikander Raza, Mujeeb-ur-Rahman, Bjorn Fortuin, Hardus Viljoen, Nqobani Mokoena.

PRETORIA CAPITALS: Connor Esterhuizen, Shai Hope (wkt), Jordan Cox, Wihan Lubbe, Dewald Brevis, Sherfane Rutherford, Roston Chase, Keshav Maharaj (captain), Lizaad Williams, Lungi Ngidi, Gideon Peters.