Cricket fans in South Africa have been flocking to the stadiums on regular basis and being thoroughly entertained with some incredible cricket. At the forefront of it is the spin-bowling approach employed by many teams but none have used it as effectively as the Paarl Royals.
In their last home game against Pretoria Capitals at Boland Park, the Royals employed a unique strategy of using a five-man all-spin attack, making it the first time a team has bowled 20 overs of spin in a SA20 match.
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This tactic has proven to be highly successful, with the Royals securing three consecutive victories this past week (five in a row overall), placing them at the top of the SA20 points table and securing their spot in the playoffs.
Bjorn Fortuin, the Royals’ left-arm spinner who has become their leading wicket-taker, attributes the team’s success to the diversity within their spin bowling arsenal.
“We’re quite diverse as a spin group. We’ve got myself and (Dunith) Wellalage that both bowl left-arm spin, but different left-arm spin if that makes sense,” said Fortuin.
As Bjorn Fortuin, Dunith Wellalage, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Joe Root and Nqaba Peter shared the bowling responsibilities between them, the batters struggled. Bar Will Jacks (56) and Kyle Verreynne (30), no one reached double digits that day.
“Mujeeb (Ur-Rahman) bowls liquorice allsorts, you never know what’s going on there. (Joe) Root is just trying to keep things quiet. You’ve got Nqaba (Peter) that joined us, so we complement each other well, but I think we adapt well as well. Root could do my job in the powerplay, for instance.
“Mujeeb could bowl at the death like Root did. So it was quite interchangeable. Anyone could have bowled at any point and fortunately it worked out well for us.”
The Royals also boast the league’s top run-scorers, with opening duo Joe Root (279 runs at an average of 69.75) and Lhuan-dre Pretorius (258 runs at 36.85) leading the way, while mystery spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman is the joint top wicket-taker with 12 scalps at 15.83.
Meanwhile, the Royals’ neighbours, MI Cape Town, have also been on an unbeaten streak, making history by securing back-to-back victories – with an abandoned match in between – for the first time in the competition’s three-year history, placing them second with 21 points.
“There’s a different vibe in the camp. (Captain) Rashid (Khan) knows the players well, and you can see the hunger to succeed, especially after the tough past seasons. We owe it to ourselves and the fans,” said MI Cape Town all-rounder George Linde.
How SA20 stands after three weeks
SA20 standings with a week of league matches to go. (SA20)
Paarl Royals are the only team to have booked their place in the playoffs so far. With six wins in seven, they’ve collected 24 points, and have looked stellar so far.
Right behind are MI Cape Town with four wins in seven and after two consecutive years of bottom place, they are primed to qualify for the next stage in the competition. But will it be in second, third or fourth remains to be seen.
A competitive battle is playing out in the middle of the table with defending champions Sunrisers Eastern Cape (19 points) having won three consecutive matches at home last week before facing a resurgent Joburg Super Kings (15 points) on Sunday.
After suffering three defeats on the coast, the Super Kings were delighted to be back on the Highveld and stormed to a nine-wicket bonus point victory over Sunrisers to reignite their push for the playoffs.
The clash at the Wanderers also marked Joburg Super Kings captain Faf du Plessis’ 400th T20 appearance.
Pretoria Capitals (9 points) and Durban’s Super Giants (8 points) both have one win so far this season and find themselves out of qualification contention.
