• Royals aiming to snap Capitals' hot streak

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    The Pretoria Capitals and Paarl Royals will be looking to join the Sunrisers Eastern Cape in the SA20 playoffs when they meet at Centurion on Thursday.

    The two-time champions secured a fourth consecutive playoff spot with a comfortable win over the Joburg Super Kings at St George’s Park, while the race for the top two places remains finely poised. The Capitals (20 points) and Royals (19) sit just behind the Sunrisers (24), with a top-two finish carrying the advantage of a place in the first playoff qualifier at Kingsmead.

    The Capitals head into the clash on a three-match winning streak and full of confidence as they host a Royals side buoyed by a dramatic last-ball victory over Durban’s Super Giants. It sets up another high-quality contest between the sides, with the Capitals having won the first-round meeting at Boland Park by 21 runs.

    Capitals seamer Gideon Peters believes his side’s recent surge has been built on getting the basics right.

    “We just said, listen, let’s try to do the basics a bit better. We’ve seen players in T20 cricket try to do so much, and then sometimes you can get bowled out quickly or you can get whacked wherever,” Peters said.

    “We said, let’s try to do the basics a bit better, like hitting top of off and playing good cricket shots. I think that’s worked for us and we’ve really stayed tight as a group.

    “Even though we’ve had bad losses, it never felt like the group was spreading apart. I think that’s kind of why we’ve done well in the last three games.”

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    Peters has been central to that run, taking seven wickets in his last three matches at an average of 11.14 and an economy rate of 7.09.

    The fast bowler’s animated celebrations have become a familiar sight in the SA20, with Peters often leaping into the air, arms pumping and emotion pouring out. He says that release comes after a long, injury-hit spell away from the game.

    “I’m just extremely happy to be back on the cricket field, to be very honest with you. Just playing games.

    “Of course, it’s never nice getting hit for six. But even that’s kind of part of the fun of it again, going through those emotions. So, it’s just awesome playing cricket again. Yeah, I’m so grateful for doing this.”

    Royals batsman Rubin Hermann also comes into the match with renewed confidence after rediscovering his touch in the previous game, guiding his side home with an unbeaten half-century.

    “Obviously, I didn’t have the greatest start to the tournament, but I’m happy to get a bit of form now in the latter half,” he said. “I always told the coaches I’ll win them a game, and luckily, I spoke it into existence.”

    The left-hander is well aware that the competition has now reached its pressure point.

    “It’s getting to ‘Fergie Time’ now into the tournament. And we want to end top two, because we’re going to have two bites of the cherry in the latter half,” he said.

    “It’s within our grasp and we know we’ve got the characters, we’ve got the team. Let’s see how far we can take it and hopefully we can end top two.”

    Photo: Arjun Singh/Sportzpics

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    Simon Borchardt